The Last Breath
by luvlani88
Summary: What happens to the world when three powerful nations wake from their deep sleeps and try to take over the other countries? War breaks out. And what happens when some countries decide it's time to show their true colors? Chaos. Twist on the world ending in 2012 myth.
1. Chill out

_**"Sorry about removing my last CM story "Saying Goodbye". It wasn't going the way I'd expected. I find it hard to write fan fictions about TV series, no matter how much I love them. Maybe it's because Criminal Minds doesn't have an end to it? I'm not sure. Anyway, enjoy this APH fan fic ^_^ I hope you like it!**  
_

_**Comments, Suggestions, Reivews and anything else are appreciated :P**_

_**~luvlani88**_

_I still remember the day he left. I still remember how sad I felt when I watched him leave, knowing that he might never return. I didn't bother running after him, I knew that it would be useless. There was no way that I, of all people, could stop him. I was tiny. I was useless. When he left, I promised I would become stronger. I promised that I would protect myself and everyone that I loved. Everyone thinks I'm useless now. But before I got to know everyone else…I think I might have been strong enough to stop him._

"Maple…I wonder if America wants to play hockey today?" Canada murmured to himself. He had felt bored so the invisible country had decided to take a walk up to one of his northern territories. Just to check up on everything.

Nothing new was happening in Nunavut though, so Canada ventured further north. As he hopped from island to  
island, he noticed something strange. There was a lot more ice. As a northern country, Canada was used to ice  
being everywhere. But there was way more ice than expected. "Eh? That's a little weird. What do you think Mr.  
Kumajiro?" He asked the small polar bear tucked in his arms. "Who are you?" The polar bear asked without a moment of hesitation. "I'm Canada! Your owner!" The country said with a sigh. "Oh well." Canada said to himself. "I'm probably just tired from putting up with America. Besides," he hugged Mr. Kumajiro tighter and started walking back to Parliament Hill. "This is probably a good sign. More ice means less global warming right?"

That had to be a good thing. Less global warming, more ice for Mr. Kumajiro's polar bear friends. Canada tried to look at the positive side, but he was still a bit worried. He definitely wasn't used to changes like this. Nothing had changed for him in a long time. But even though this seemed like a minor change, it was just a bit strange for Canada. Suddenly, Canada felt a chill down his back. Not just a regular Canadian winter chill, but something different. Something strange. It was...eerie. All at once, Canada hugged his polar bear tighter and started to walk a bit faster. And all at once, he noticed something else. The path which he had come from had changed. It was covered in ice. He stopped suddenly. "H-hello?" he called softly. He was hoping that it was just America pulling a prank on him. "Hello? Is anyone there?" Silence, except for the soft sounds of the wind. Wait, there was something else. It was…Canada looked down to the frosty ground, thinking that he had stepped on a piece of paper or a stick of some sort. He was wrong. His feet were still in place. Not moving. Not moving?!

Canada gasped at the sight of the ice that was slowly growing up his boots. It was moving fast, like it was trying to freeze him. Already, he found himself rooted to the spot. "Maple…Leaf…" He breathed in shock, a single drop of sweat falling from his brow passed his wide eyes, and hit the ground, where it froze instantly. "H-help! S-s-somebody! H-help m-m-me!" He cried out but only the sounds of the ice crawling up him met his ears. The ice was climbing up his torso now. "Who are you?" Mr. Kumajiro asked, completely oblivious to Canada's panic. "I-I'm C-c-c-Canada!" He answered automatically. He was violently shivering now. "Who are y-" Mr. Kumajiro started to ask again, but was cut off by the ice covering his fur covered body completely. "AH! H-H-HELP! SOMEBODY HELP ME! The ice was climbing up his neck now. Canada couldn't move the rest of his body. "Help…" he was about to yell again when he realized with a horrified shock that Mr. Kumajiro's last words weren't meant for him. The eerie chill had returned stronger than ever. Canada barely choked out his words. They were whispered, humble, terrified words that he could barely say.

"Who…Who are…you?" He whispered as he felt the ice make its way up his face. The last thing Canada saw was two pale blue eyes. And a pair of pale blue lips as they blew another stinging icy breath into his face. Canada blacked out as the words met his frost-bitten ears.

"You're worst nightmare."


	2. Wash it off

**Author's Note: I just read some reviews of the first chapter and I'm so happy people are enjoying the story so far :3 Sorry if there is any spelling mistakes!**

**So this next chapter might leave some people guessing, but some people might get the hint as to who this mysterious force is. KEEP READING! XD**

**If you have any suggestions as to what you want to see in the next chapter leave a comment. I have the story mostly planned out, but I'm curious as to what everyone's expecting... :)**

**So glad you like it! Love you!**

**~luvlani88**

"Where the heck is my light, man?" A very irritated Cuba muttered to himself. At the moment, Cuba was rummaging through his pockets, trying with no luck to find his cigarette lighter. "Aw, man! I musta dropped it in the sand…" He frowned looking at the ground behind him. Cuba had been in the middle of walking down one of his sunny beaches, innocently smoking on his ever-present cigar and munching on a jelly filled doughnut, when he realized that his cigar needed re-lighting. "Come on…come on…" He muttered angrily as he got on his hands and knees to dig around in the sand for his lighter. Cuba really, really, REALLY hated when these kinds of things happened to him. "Oh! There it is." He said after a minute of frantically searching. His lighter was sitting on the wet sand where the tide of water came up and then went back into the ocean in a steady rhythm. "Finally!" Cuba said happily as he walked out into the shallow water to get it, not caring that his sandals and feet were getting wet.

The Caribbean nation liked his water. It was almost always warm, sunny and sparkling. Most of the other countries were usually quite jealous of this fact. Cuba brought the lighter to his cigar and relit it, sighing happily as he did so. The sun felt good, and he stopped for a minute, enjoying the feel of the sun on his skin and the warm water lapping at his ankles. Cuba smiled and closed his eyes. "Man, today is gonna be a good day…" He said to no one in particular. The sunny country opened his eyes and took one last long drag before he started to continue down the beach. It was only a few steps later when Cuba realized something. The usual calm sounds of the water were gone. It was as if the ocean itself had stopped moving, and as a result, everything was silent. Eerily silent.

Cuba shuddered, but kept walking. He didn't want to be held up by a little silence. And he definitely didn't want to get into any trouble. So he kept walking his usual pace. Maybe a bit faster than his usual pace, just to be on the safe side. "I've been smoking too much. It's all in my head." He told himself. But he couldn't help but notice the silence where the water would have been. Why had it gone quiet all of a sudden? Cuba looked out towards the deep, blue, sparkling ocean. It was calm. Strangely quiet. No waves, no tides, no nothing. It looked like a pool of water just sitting there. That definitely wasn't right. No ocean on Earth was supposed to look like this. Water was supposed to move around. Why wasn't the Caribbean water doing its usual thing? Cuba stopped dead in his tracks, and turned to stare at the water in front of him. "What the heck, man? What's up with me water?" He asked. Even as his sandaled foot kicked at it, the water continued to sit there, as if it was….dead. No movement. Cuba peered down into the water. The fish were gone. The beautiful, tropical fish that people from all over the world came to get a glimpse at were nowhere in sight! "This is just crazy…I better go home and call the coast guard or somethin'…" Cuba said worriedly as he started walking again.

As he got further and further, he noticed something had changed. The sounds of the water had slowly returned, and now it sounded like a huge waterfall, gushing water like crazy. The sounds of water hitting against itself filled the Caribbean man's ears as an uneasy feeling crept over him. The water in the ocean was still lifeless. The sounds were coming from… behind him?! Cuba nearly dropped his cigar. As he swallowed the ball of fear that had risen in his throat, he turned around. The water…was….flying?! It was as if the water had come alive and morphed itself into tendrils of H2O that were coming towards the Caribbean nation.

"W-what the…!" Cuba exclaimed in surprise as he turned to run away, but it was too late. The tendrils wrapped themselves around him and were now dragging him into the eerily calm waters. "H-hey! What is this?! Let me go!" Cuba struggled but to no avail. He was in the ocean now, being pulled under the water. "HELP! HEL-"He was dragged under the water and could no longer breathe. He was drowning. His breath was gone. As the water filled his mouth and nose, he glanced up. "Whatareyou?" He managed as the last of his air was taken from him. The answer came from a being that seemed to be made of water, with liquid greenish eyes. Cuba blacked out just as the response met his ears.

"Your greatest fear."


	3. Blow it away

"Ahh….What a beautiful day to be a country!" Sealand said as he strolled down one side of his "country". This was how his mornings were. Before lunch, he would tell himself that he was already a country, and that the other countries were just stupid for not acknowledging him. After lunch, usually after he had talked to Britain, he would be telling himself that he would be a country as soon as he saved the rest of the world from some powerful gripping force. Or reading comic books. Depending on the weather. "I should go talk to that lousy Britain again and give him a really big piece of my mind!" He said with his hands balled up in fists and his determined face set. "Then, he'll just HAVE to acknowledge me!" Truthfully though, Sealand was a little bit doubtful about this, but he definitely wouldn't give up. Not at all. "Set a course for Britain's palace! I'm going to become a country!" He said happily as his "country" started to move. Sealand laughed a laugh full of determination, as he leaned over the side of his "country". "I can't wait to-Ah!" He was about to go on about his soon-to-be triumph, but was suddenly stopped as he was violently shoved forward, almost toppling into the ocean. "Huh? Why aren't we moving?" He asked himself. On a hunch, the micro nation looked down at the water below. Surprisingly, he was moving, but his country was moving at a slow pace…almost as if it was being pushed against. As if something…or someone..was…trying to stop Sealand from moving.

"Hey! What's going on around here? I should be able to move faster!" He said. As the words left the young boy's mouth, a strong gust of wind came out of the blue. Sealand, held on to the railing to keep himself from being blown away. Unfortunately, his hat wasn't so secure. "Hey! Come back here!" He said as he went chasing after his little blue hat, the unusual wind now at his back, pushing him forward. He didn't care to be honest. That little hat was part of him. There was no way in the world that he would let that little hat be taken from his grasp. Especially not by some strange wind. Who did that wind think it was anyway? "Got'cha!" Sealand said as he finally grabbed his hat. It had been a close call. Sealand had to press himself against the railing at the small side of his country and lean over the edge to grab it.

"My, that was a close c-ah!" He said as the strong mysterious wind came back and hit him with more force than ever. Now, he was no longer hanging on to his hat, he was hanging onto the railing. One of his hands was holding his hat to his head, while the other one was gripping for dear life to the cold metal railing, as the rest of his body threatened to fly right off with the wind! "Hey! What's the big idea? Somebody help me!" The boy cried out. "Ah! Nooo!" His white knuckles and small hand could no longer hold on to the metal railing. The mysterious wind was much too powerful, and it blew Sealand far up into the air, where he thrashed and struggled around, determined to become free from the invisible force. "Whaaaa! HEY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" He yelled as he was then thrown in the air at an alarming rate and became further and further from his country. He hit water. It hurt as he was flung face first into the ocean. As he went under the water, his hat bobbed back up to the surface.

"Getting revenge."Came the reply from greyish eyes on the young boy's "country".

The little blue hat was then filled with the wet little head of Sealand, as he swam back to the surface and took a deep breath of air. He shook violently with cold from the freezing water he was now submerged in as he blinked back tears. Too far from his country to send a distress signal. Sealand floated in the water for a minute, before he swallowed another gulp of air and began to swim. He started making his way to Britain on his own, while salty tears streamed down his face.


	4. Voices in the Dark

**/Hello again! Sorry to interrupt, but I think this is a good time to mention that I appreciate every single person that read or is reading this story 3 Thank you so much for taking the time and I hope you have a Happy Holiday! By the way, I'm sorry about the way this chapter is written, but I didn't want to give much away about the owners of the voices. So sorry!/**

"You failed."

"_I know but-"_

"**Thanks to you, our plan is ruined."**

"_I'm sorry. I underestimated-"_

"**You let him get away!"**

"_It wasn't my fault!"_

"Enough."

"_But I-"_

"I said enough. You have no excuses."

"**What do we do now?"**

"Quiet. Let me think."

The room was silent as the owner of the voice closed its eyes. It was awhile before the lighter, tinkering voice of the first speaker broke the silence.

"_You don't think that HE will-"_

"**Shut up! There's no way he could find out about this."**

"_He IS powerful…"_

"_**Not as much as before. Besides…"**_

The person with the rough, raspy voice smirked.

"…**We've gotten powerful too!"**

"Both of you be quiet." As the voice's owner opened its eyes, the person chuckled.

"**What's so funny?"**

****"I'm thinking about the last time we saw him."

It was silent for another minute before the voice's owner spoke again, the words flowing over each other to complete the sentence in a melodic stream."

"Where did the young one swim off to?"

"_Europe."_

The flowing voice chuckled.

"**What now?"**

"I find it amusing how determined that little micro nation is. After he gets blown off of his so called country, he goes right back to his goal of becoming a real nation."

There was silence as the other two processed this.

"_What do you mean?"_

"It's simple really. He could have swam anywhere, even back onto his country, but he decides to swim away and makes the decision to go to Europe. To see Britian I suppose?"

"…**What does that have to do with anything?"**

"_Britain wouldn't believe the little thing's story…" _ The tinkering voice said, starting to catch on.

"Yes, but some other countries might."

"**So this means…."**

The owner of the flowing words turned to the tinkering voice and smiled.

"Your mistake actually confirmed my suspicions."

"…_It did?"_

"Indeed."

"**You knew?"**

"Yes. Let's get started with preparations."

"_So this means that they're…"_

"Yes it does."

The owner of the flowing voice stood up and started to leave, but stopped to address the tinkering voice and to throw something over its shoulder. The owner of the raspy voice smiled down at the Cuban lighter on the ground.

"The G8 is having a World Conference at Britain's palace."


	5. Tiramisu

**/Happy holidays readers! I just wanted to wish everyone a happy holiday or merry Christmas or whatever you celebrate **** Also, I wanted to say thank you to the people who have been leaving me reviews/comments so far. You guys rock! So anyway, I have noticed that my chapters are looking a little short…Maybe it's just the format? But I decided that I'm going to aim to have more content in the upcoming chapters so that there's more to read! Sorry if my format is making you angry! Thanks for reading guys!/**

**~Luvlani88**

"What the devil are you talking about, idiot?" An irritated Britain demanded with his hands on his hips. "You look like you've been swimming in the Olympics!" At the moment, the British gentleman was glowering at a violently shaking Sealand who had a towel wrapped around his shoulders. The G8 had been in the middle of arguing with each other over nothing important, when a very wet, crying little Sealand had burst in the room, sobbing and yelling rapidly about some sort of wind. "T-th-there w-w-was a-" The micro nation tried to explain but was having a hard time trying not to cry anymore. "Sealand, calm down and tell me what's gotten you in such a twist!" Britain said as he put a hand to his throbbing temple. France, China, Russia, America, Japan, and Germany were gathered around as well, but were just as confused and baffled by Sealand's behaviour as Britain. China, who was standing close to the crying little boy, reached into his coat's enormous sleeves and somehow pulled out a red Chinese handkerchief. Sealand smiled and nodded a thank you as China handed it to him. "You can keep it." China said. "Now that you are calmed down, why don't you tell us what it is that is making you cry so much, aru?" The old country asked. And so Sealand told the room the bizarre story from beginning to end; how he had not been able to move, how his hat was almost taken away, how he was hanging on for dear life, and how painful it had been to hit the water. "That's ridiculous! What kind of wind has the power to blow you off of your ship?!" Britain said in astonishment. "Hey-a everybody!" Suddenly, North Italy swept in, carrying two plates of what looked like Italian pastries in his hands, and a big smile on his face.

"I-a brought some…"His voice trailed off as he took in the sight of the countries crowding around a crying Sealand. "Ve…? What's wrong, _bambino_? Why do you look so sad?" He said sadly as he crouched down to Sealand's level and put the plates of pastries on the ground beside him. Sealand sighed and began to once again repeat the story to Italy, who listened with so much attentiveness; Germany wondered why he couldn't be this attentive during military training. "Ve…" Italy murmured as Sealand finished his story. "You were attacked by a big wind?" He said in astonishement. "Yes! Oh, and there's something else…" Sealand exclaimed. "Just as I went under the water, I heard someone on my country say "Getting revenge". And then when I came up for air, he was gone!" The young boy said as his eyes filled with tears, remembering that moment. Italy however, didn't say anything this time. As Sealand put China's handkerchief back up to his eyes, Italy paled quickly. His usually warm skin looked as white as paper. Germany was the first to notice. "Italia? Are you okay?" He asked carefully. The German had never seen Italy look so lost in thought. Usually, when Italy was scared, he was trembling and begging and pleading, and…well…freaking out. No, this wasn't fear. This expression was thoughtful in a horrified way.

"Here Sealand, have-a some Tiramisu . It's an Italian dessert." Italy ignored Germany's question and offered Sealand one of the pastries on the dish, as the colour returned to his face, and his regular expression returned. "Mmm…Thank you!" Sealand said as he put the delicious dessert in his mouth. "Hey, Sealand?" America spoke up suddenly. "If this whole wind thing is really bothering you, I can use some of my fighter jets to fly over the water and see if there's anything weird going on…?" He offered. "Would you, Mr. America? Can you?" He smiled happily. "Of course I can! I'm the hero!" America grinned. He wasn't doing it to be the hero, however. Seeing Sealand telling his story while the other countries hardly believed him, reminded himself of how many times something similar had happened to him. America had then felt like giving the small kid at least the respect he deserved. Besides, he had a lot of jets, and some spare time on his hands, so why not? "Oh thank you, thank you, Mr. America!" The smile on the young boy's face grew bigger and America smiled back. "Sealand, why don't you go home for now, and we'll handle it from here, alright then? Off with you now." Britain waved him out of the room, and Sealand ran out smiling with content and satisfaction.

"Well, zhat was…'ow you say…_interesant_?" France commented. "_Друзья_! Let us finish our meeting, da?" Russia smiled. "You guys go ahead." America said non-chalantly as he started to stroll out of the room. "Hey! Where the bloody hell do you think you're going?" Britain exclaimed. "Uh…to get some planes ready? Duh." Came the reply. Britain shook his head. "America, you don't have to bother yourself with such a meaningless task. I'm sure Sealand is just making up some insane tale to get our attention." America stopped walking as he heard this. "What do you mean, Britain? The poor kid was terrified!" He said. Britain rolled his eyes. "That's exactly what that idiot wants you to think! There's obviously nothing out there. You'll just waste your time." America stared at the European country for a moment, then turned to stroll right out of the room. "Well, while you stay here and doubt, I'm going to give that little kid some respect and help him out." He tossed lightly over his shoulder. This caused a murmured insult from Britain and an argument to occur.

As the countries argued with one another, Italy picked up the plates of Tiramisu and set them on the table without anyone noticing. And as Russia threatened France with his large pipe, Italy slipped out of the room without a sound.

**Bambino (Italian)= baby/child/kid**

**Друзья (Russian)= friends**

**Interesant (French)= interesting **


	6. British Wind Patterns

"Are you sure?" America asked for the umpteenth time. The pilot nodded. "I'm positive. I took 23 planes over there and nobody saw anything." America frowned. "What were the wind patterns like?" He asked quickly. The pilot blinked. "Uh…excuse me?" The American fighter jet pilot and his fleet had been asked by America to fly over to Sealand's place and scout the surrounding area. None of the pilot's had any idea what they were looking for, and they had a feeling neither did America. But nevertheless, the loyal pilots did their job and didn't ask too many questions. "Wind patterns! Did you notice any weird bursts or have trouble leveling off or-"The pilot shook his head. "Sorry sir, we didn't experience anything like that…You could check with the lab and have them scan the area for weird wind currents or something, but I don't think-"He began but America cut him off. "Leave." America frowned and slumped back in his chair, crossing his arms. The pilot didn't have to be asked twice; he hurried quickly out of the office and closed the door behind him. America sighed and looked around his office in the White House. Everything was normal here, but what could possibly have scared Sealand over there? "Maybe Britain was right…" America muttered as he cleaned his glasses with the edge of his shirt. He immediately shook his head at that. He could already imagine what Britain would say when he found out his search had come up empty. "_I told you, you bloody git!"_ America imitated Britain's accent and mocking tone. _"Searching the seas for something completely preposterous was a complete and utter waste of time!" _ America hesitated "Hmm…" This was entertaining. And it came easily too. These were words that he knew Britain would say himself. America got up from his chair and paced around the room, imitating Britain's straight, gentlemen-like posture and put his hands behind his back as he walked, while he continued imitating Britain's voice. _"And another thing, you shouldn't use your resources for silly little things like WIND in the Atlantic Ocean! Sealand was just being stupid and acting like an idiot." _America continued. The words flowed easily. To America, it was as if he was channeling Britain himself. _"This whole scene is utterly stupid!" _ Britain would start getting mad now. His eyebrows would turn angry and he would keep ranting and raving. _"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU AND SEALAND GOT ALL OF THE OTHER COUNTRIES RILED UP OVER NOTHING AT ALL! I TOLD YOU, DIDN'T' I? I TOLD YOU THAT SENDING A FLEET OF AIRCRAFT OVER TO LOOK FOR SOMETHING SO REDICULOUS WAS INSANE! IT WAS A MISTAKE, JUST LIKE YOU!"_ America stopped suddenly. Where the heck had that come from? He hadn't meant to say that, the words had come on their own. And yet…Even as he sat briskly down at his desk, the feeling of sadness washed over him. As he wrote out a message to the lab to tell them to check the wind patterns, America knew the truth deep down. Those words were Britain's true feelings. America sighed. He already knew that. He knew he was a mistake.


	7. Personnifications

**/Hello again! Just wanted to say happy new year to everyone! Also, I'd like to apologize for the possible mistakes in this chapter. I used Google translate for the Italian dialogue, and also, I'm sorry if I incorrectly identified the Head of Congregation. I don't even know what that person is, I just know that it sounds official and Italian ^^ Enjoy the story and Happy New Year!**

"E 'sicuro?" Romano asked the Italian General "_Is it secure?"_ In Italian. He was impatient as usual, but this time he also felt something else. Was it anxiety? No…It was almost a sense of fear. Romano scoffed at himself. He was being paranoid. Ever since his brother had sent him the message, he hadn't been thinking straight. He had raced home to the comfort of his home in Italy; a grand church with tall steeples and many rooms and corridors. Romano and Italy's grandfather Roman Empire had built it as a base, and used it as a home, so this is where his grandsons had grown up. Looking back now, however, Romano scolded himself for being so hasty. He could have read the message wrong. His brother's hand writing had always been a little messy, but it was almost scribbled this time. Romano considered this as he packed his belongings from Spain's house. Was the writing messy because Italy had been trembling in fear as he wrote it? Or was he just over-reacting? To be honest, Romano himself didn't want to take any chances this time, especially when it concerned his family and home. Leaving a note for Spain to read when he got home, Romano rushed back to his home in his country's capital to carry out his duties and actions there in person. When he had arrived, his brother had been lighting the candles for mass, and looked completely exhausted as well. And of course, he was talking frantically out of fear. "Stop! Stai parlando troppo veloce!" He yelled at him in his native tongue which meant, "Stop! You're speaking too fast!" After his brother had slowed down his rapid breathing, he had explained everything to Romano and excused himself to go for a walk, apparently to clear his head. Romano hadn't questioned this. So while Italy was gone he busied himself with preparations.

The Italian General and other security personnel had acted quickly with little questions, and he hadn't had as much media attention as he had expected. Only another few hours before the final step of his plan would commence. First had been securing the basement treasury. This had probably been the grandest step, and required Romano himself to go down 3 flights of stairs and through several dark hallways to get to the ancient sealed room. Thankfully, the chains his grandfather had put on the room were still in place, but a little extra security wouldn't hurt. Second, Romano made a huge move that caught the attention of the citizens and media. Of course, no one argued and no one asked many questions. In fact, Romano had to admit that the Italian citizens were the most cooperative, as the elders knew what all this meant. Within 8 hours, all of the tourists and visitors, no matter where they were from or why they were here, were expelled from the country. It had been a drastic move, and was guaranteed to spark the curiosity of other countries, but that had truly been the least of Romano's worries.

Now, all he had to do was confirm that step one and two were complete, and begin step three. "Si. The room and its contents are secured." The Italian General replied. Romano sighed. "Great. Tell the advisers the media, and the head of the congregation to meet me in the East Mass Room." He said quickly. It was such a pain to do all of this alone. As Romano and the general made their way to the East Mass Room, the Head of the Congregation met up with them in the hallway. "I'm sorry to disturb you right now…" The Head of Congregation said to Romano as they walked. "What is it?" He responded irritably. "Well…" The old man hesitated. "By your grandfather's laws, I legally have to tell you the requirements, conditions and everything else about what you are about to do. I understand that you've done this before in the past, but that was a long time ago, and as the Head of Congregation I need to remind you." The elderly man pushed up his glasses on his nose. Romano sighed and looked sideways at the old man. "Go ahead, then…" He responded. The old man nodded. "As the personified co-country of South Italy, you are required to place your right hand over your heart and raise your left hand as you recite these words." The old man handed Romano a document with Italian words printed neatly on it. "After you recite this, you can explain and make your conditions to this action clear, and also further explain anything else you might feel the need to." The old man paused to take a breath, when Romano spoke. "Is that all?" He said with a roll of his eyes. They were almost to the East Mass Room where they were guaranteed not to get a moment of peace with the media and press buzzing around. "Not quite." The old man stopped.

They were now in front of the grand wooden double doors that led to the East Mass Room. "You do understand that your brother…I mean you're only in charge of half of the country…" Romano put a hand on each of the huge golden door handles. "I have already talked with my brother and we have both made our decisions." The elder man nodded to show he understood. "Sir? Sei pronto?" The Italian woman in charge of telecommunications asked as she came up behind the two while carrying a clipboard and a wireless ear phone. "Yes. I'm ready." Romano answered and allowed the woman to attach the ear phone to his ear without protest. "Siamo pronti." She said into her own ear piece "We're ready." Romano took a deep breath and pushed open the grand double doors, where he was immediately greeted by a large crowd of media and press reporters and security personnel who were making a path for him to the old podium were Romano and Italy had read bible passages for Mass. But today, it was being used for an important announcement. All he could hear was the buzz of the many voices yelling above each other, begging for his attention. A quote, a statement, a reason. The media always wanted something.

As he stepped on the stage he glanced up. Carved in wood, positioned between stained glass windows was a cross fastened high on the wall. Romano glanced up to it, and then lowered his eyes. _Dear God,_ he silently prayed. _Whatever happens, please don't let this country fall. Please don't let me let grandfather down._ He mentally begged as he stood on the stage and waited for the adviser to introduce him to the now quiet crowd. _And, please, whatever you do, please make sure my brother goes along with our plan. Please give him the strength to keep going._ Romano shook the advisers hand and then took his place at the podium. _Amen._

Wordlessly, Romano placed his right hand over his heart and raised his left hand, as he began to read the words on the document into the many microphones on the podium. "_I, Italy Romano Lovino Vargas, the personification of South Italy do solemnly swear that I fully understand my rights, and legal power over my portion of the country of Italy, and I do solemnly swear that my legal and national actions are purely for the benefit of this country, so help me god." _He said stiffly in Italian as he addressed the crowd of people in front of him, even though this step, this final step in the plan, would affect the entire country. The telecommunications adviser's voice came on in his ear. _"Sir, you may now officially complete the action." _She said briskly. Romano took a deep breath and stared out at the tons of reporters and media personnel in front of him. It wasn't stage fright that was making him uncomfortable. It was the feeling that he was addressing his country without the other half of it standing next to him. "As the personification of South Italy, I would like to announce and inform everyone that under Italy Veneziano's and my own command, the country of Italy will be secured in lock down until further notice."

This sentence caused uproar of astonishment, surprise, and a lot of questions. Romano held up his hand for silence. "To further explain, all travel, imports and exports in and out of Italy will no longer be allowed, as well as any tourists. Military personnel from other countries coming in to discuss military actions will be denied entry as well." This caused uproar, this time of reporters wanting to ask questions. "Yes?" Romano gestured to a young reporter near the front. "Does this mean that we will no longer be participating in war internationally?" Romano sighed at this. "Yes it does. Anyone else? You over there." He moved on. A female reporter with a stern look stood up. "Sir, with all due respect, you do realize that without Italy Veneziano's input and confirmation, you cannot close the doors of North Italy because you are only the personification of _South_ Italy?" She pressed. Romano was whole-heartedly dreading this question. He was about to tell the woman that he had written consent from his brother saying that he agreed with this action as well, when someone tapped him on the shoulder. _Oh god._ He thought. This could only mean one thing.

It was one of the council members. The woman handed him a letter. _Please god, no._ He opened the letter, took the document out and unfolded it on the podium. _Please don't let this be it._ Romano's heart sank to his stomach as he scanned the document in front of him. He took another steadying breath and addressed the reporter again. "Actually, my next announcement will answer your question." He said weakly. _Oh god. Don't let this happen. _"As of today, December 1st, 2012, I would officially like to announce a change in governmental standing." He said.

_God, why have you failed me? _He held up the document, with Italian printing, and his brother's signature clearly visible underneath. "Due to my brother's resignation... I am now the official personification of the entire country of Italy."

_God, you bastard!_


	8. World Meeting Retaliation

Almost all of the G8 watched the scene unfold on a TV at Germany's house. Only America was absent. The group couldn't understand Italian, but thanks to sub-titles, they could definitely understand what had happened. In fact, they had all done a spit-take when they had heard the news. "Vhat the hell?!" Germany exclaimed. They had all gathered again after the last meeting in Britain's palace to watch the news announcement together. They had never seen Romano or Italy give an international announcement like this before, which was probably why they were so confused. "No exports? Sacre bleu!" France cried. "Petit Italy exported me food and clothing!" It wasn't just France. Most of the countries would somehow be affected by this news, and all of them didn't like it. Japan caught Germany's eye and raised an eyebrow. "I guess zhis means zhe Axis Powers are no more zhen…" Germany whispered softly.

Japan was about to protest when a German solider entered the room. "_Ein Brief für dich sir." _He said and handed a letter to Germany. "_Danke." _ He responded as he took the letter. He analyzed the letter now in his hand. It was an expensive envelope, with classic details on it. Germany was about to put it on his desk for later, when the stamp caught his eye. _Poste Italiane…_ It was Italian! Germany went quickly to his desk to look for a letter opener. "What is it?" Britain asked when he noticed Germany's excitement. "Zhis letter was sent from…" He finally found the letter opener and quickly used it to rip open the top of the letter. "Italy!" He opened the paper inside. The other countries crowded around him, trying to read over his shoulder. "Well, what does it say-aru!" China asked impatiently. "Is it from Italy or from Romano?" Britain demanded. The message wasn't very long. Germany read the letter out loud.

_December 1__st__, 2012._

_Germany, if you've gotten this letter, you've probably heard the news._

_Gather all of the other countries, even the Baltic States and go to the Vatican, in Italy. My brother will be expecting you. Arrive before the 15__th__ of December._

_I can't tell you why, but when you meet with Romano, he will explain everything._

_Split up everyone into teams and travel to Italy on foot. Make sure you go in separate entrances. Bring your passports and make copies of this letter._

_Find the Vatican and go right in, don't wait for an invite and look for Romano. He will be waiting with a meal._

_I'm sorry I can't explain further, but I hope you all can trust me by now! _

_Hasta la pasta!_

Italy Veneziano

Italy's name was signed with a flourish. " 'e wants us to go to Italy? _Pourquoi_?" France asked no one in particular. "I don't know…But with what's been going on…I think we should trust him and hold a world meeting." Britain said as he straightened his tie. "We haven't had a vorld meeting in a long time!" Russia said happily in his usual creepy sort of way. "I think we should discuss this at the World Meeting." Japan said quietly. "Vell…Yes. I agree with Japan. Let's have a World Meeting later today then…" Germany reluctantly agreed.

Several hours later, at 8:00pm, the German conference room was filled with almost all of the countries of the world. The only ones missing were the Italian brothers obviously, America, Cuba, and Canada, however nobody noticed the Canadian's absence. "Alright, then! Everyone settle down!" Britain called for order. The noise slowly died down as Britain stood at the head of the large table. "So before we begin, let's have a roll call shall we? Please just raise your hand when I call your name" He said in his usual formal fashion as he took out a pen and prepared to start checking names off of the list in front of him.

"America?" He was met with silence. "Bloody git…" He mumbled. Where the hell was he, anyway?! He continued down the list. "Germany. Prussia. Austria. Hungary. France. Spain. Switzerland. Poland. Liechtenstein. Sealand. Russia. Latvia. Lithuania. Estonia. Ukraine. Belarus. Japan. China. Taiwan. Hong Kong. South Korea. Netherlands. Iceland. Denmark. Finland. Sweden. Belgium. Norway. Egypt. Greece. Turkey. Cuba." Britain looked up, but didn't see Cuba raise his hand or make any indication that he was here. "Hm…Cuba isn't here either." Britain muttered. Of course, he didn't see the last name on the list, which was Canada's.

"Alright. Thank you for your cooperation. Germany, would you like to take over?"  
Germany nodded and stood up. "Thank you all for coming on such short notice. I understand that we are all shocked and surprised about Italy closing its doors, and that's basically why we're here. For those of you who don't know, Italy has resigned and given the full title of country personification to his brother Romano, who was previously known as South Italy. Now, Sealand, would you like to share your story?" Sealand grinned and stood on his chair to seem bigger. As he told his story of how he was attacked by a mysterious wind, the other countries listened carefully. When he was finished, Sealand sat down and said thank you for listening. "Thank you Sealand. We have reason to believe that Italy and Romano may have something to do with this attack, hence the fact that they have locked down."

Germany continued. "Excuse me?" Latvia raised his hand. "Er..Yes Latvia?" The young country stood up. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but is it even possible to give up your country?" He said softly, and sat down when he was finished. "It's been done." China replied suddenly. "That's true. It's happened before." Prussia suddenly spoke up from his chair as well. This wasn't usual though. Prussia looked completely focused on the situation in front of him. Not a hint of his usual joking, annoying manner. "It has? To who?" Sealand asked eagerly. China stood up and sighed, as if despising the fact that he had to recall something from memory. "South and North Korea. They changed power a bunch of different times-aru. North Korea has been in lock down mode for a really long time now…Let's hope Italy and Romano don't do the same-aru." He looked over at Prussia. "Did you want to say something, Prussia?" Prussia shrugged. "I just wanted agree with what ponytail over there said."This earned a muttered Chinese insult from China. "And also, I kind of wanted to point out the obvious here." He said simply.

"Vhat? Bruder, vhat are you talking about?" Germany asked suspiciously. He was unsure if his brother's next words were going to be helpful, or idiotic. Prussia stood up and walked over to the huge bay window on the other side of the room. His ruby eyes were now dull as he spoke with such a serious tone, that it reminded Japan of Germany's usual tone of voice. "I'm not blaming anyone or anything…but think about it for a second." He paused. "Right after Sealand's attack, Italy runs back to his country and then him and his brother close their doors. Doesn't that sound a little obvious to anyone else? Like, come on! He didn't just run back for no reason! Maybe they were afraid of retaliation..." He turned back to look at the group. "I mean, it can't be fear if you had no evidence right?" A murmur spread throughout the room. "_Genug!" _Germany exclaimed. "Vhile I admit that it is a little strange, I refuse to believe that-" he was about to continue when America suddenly burst in through the door. "America? What the bloody hell happened to you?" Britain stood up when he saw America.

He looked exhausted, and his clothes looked like they were hurriedly put on. He was panting from running so far, but what bothered everyone the most was that he was as pale as a ghost. "I-I-I-"He started to speak but his voice failed him. France took him by the arm and guided him to a chair. " 'ere. 'ave some water." He said as he handed America a bottle. America knocked it out of France's hand and stood up abruptly again. "What's the matter with you?" Britain asked in alarm. "I-it's…" He took a moment to catch his breath. "I-I was sending a message to my lab to scan for wind patterns for Sealand when a security guy told me it was sabotaged!" He looked angry now.

"Sabotaged? How?" Russia looked slightly concerned that someone was doing destructive, evil things without him. America however, ignored Russia's question and continued. "And then I went to see if I could use Canada's lab, but he was frozen solid! And then Cuba washed up on a beach in Florida! Someone tried to drown him!" America was yelling now. Britain pushed him back down in his chair. "Wait...Slow down…You just said that Canada was frozen?" Russia asked in astonishment. "Oh mon dieu! Mon petit Canada!" France cried. "Is 'e alright?" America nodded. "He'll be fine and so will Cuba. They're in the hospital now…"

Austria stood up suddenly. "Mr. America, how was your science lab sabotaged?" He asked with concern. That was when tears started forming at America's eyes.

"It was flooded!"


	9. Just go with it

**/Author's Note: I've been getting some really great reviews! I received one review from someone who told me that my lay out was hard to read. I can only see a preview of my work, and I'm pretty sure it's a little different. So thank you constructive critisim! I appreciate the feedback! So anyway, I'll try to change the way it's laid out, and please tell me what you think! I've never actually done this before...So sorry for any problems!/**

"So are we going?" America asked the countries began talking among themselves.

"Silence!" Germany exclaimed to get everyone's attention. Britain took the stand again.  
Now that America had gotten over the initial shock, and everyone had seen the letter that Italy had sent, the only thing left to do now was to decide whether or not to go to Italy.

"It's now quite obvious that these attacks are coming from something much bigger than we initially thought. So the question is, do we stay or do we go?" Britain voiced the options that were laid on the table.

"I do not understand." Japan spoke up suddenly, which startled some of the other countries. "If we believe that Italy-san or Mr. Romano might have something to do with these three attacks, then won't going to Italy put us in danger?" He said. The other countries had to admit that this was a valuable point.

"Japan's right." Hungary said softly. "Italy may be luring us into a trap." The other countries nodded at this.

The debate went on for several minutes, before Liechtenstein stood up and smoothed out her dress. "Mr. Germany, do you think this is a trap?" She turned to the blonde who was quite surprised that the young girl would speak up at a World Meeting. Everyone turned to look at Germany, who bit his lip thoughtfully.

There were a bunch of different answers to this question. He could say that no, he didn't think this was a trap, and the Italians were just being careful. Or he could say yes, it was a possibility that Romano and Italy were behind the attacks on Cuba, Sealand and that other person whose name he couldn't remember. But then why would Italy resign? Was it out of guilt? Germany thought about Italy's strange behavior at the last G8 meeting. Was it possible that Italy knew that him and Romano had the resources and ability to attack, but didn't expect Romano to actually take action? Maybe Italy didn't plan for Romano to attack so soon. But he must've known if Cuba and that other country had already been attacked. And what was with Romano putting the entire country in lock down? Was that defence, fear or preparation? A sudden realization struck Germany like a quick shot of whiskey.

"No. I don't think going to Italy is a trap." He said as the realization became understanding.

"Why not?" Liechtenstein asked. She was back in her seat beside Switzerland now. The room was still silent, waiting for Germany to explain. So he explained how he had noticed Italy's strange behavior at the previous G8 meeting.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Britain asked, clearly not understanding.  
"Well…I was just thinking maybe Prussia is right…sort of. I think going to Italy is a good idea. Look at it the other way for a minute. Maybe Italy isn't the one attacking. Maybe Italy is afraid of being attacked. Romano and Italy might know something about these mysterious attacks, and are afraid of getting attacked themselves. Maybe it's preparation for an attack?" He said cautiously.

There was silence as everyone processed this, until another country spoke out.  
"Maybe it's happened before." It had been Egypt who had said that. While everyone blinked in surprise, Germany nodded.

"Yes, you could be right Egypt! Maybe it's happened to them before, and they don't want it happening again?" He guessed.

"So let's go." Russia suddenly said.

"Eh? You mean let's all go to Italy?" France asked. Russia nodded and smiled.

"Yes. They know what to do. So let's go!" The scary country said simply. Slowly, but surely, there was nods of agreement throughout the room, and so America stood up.

"Alright, everyone who wants to follow Italy's instructions, raise your hand." He said in his usual American tone and he raised his own hand.

Slowly, countries raised their hands. First Germany, then Japan, and then Russia and the Baltic States, then soon Hungary and Austria. A moment later, all of the hands in the room were raised, some more tedious then others. Every hand but one.

"Prussia? Don't you want to go?" Hungary looked over and asked. Prussia turned to face the room of countries in front of them. His ruby red eyes were dull again as he spoke.

"I…I guess so. It can't hurt." He shrugged and the glow was back in his eyes as he smirked. "Besides, what mysterious force would dare challenge the awesome me?" Germany smirked and rolled his eyes.

"Okay, so…I guess we're all going to Italy then!" America said, with a little too much enthusiasm.  
"We should split into groups first, like Italy said." France pointed out as he twirled his rose in his fingers.

"I think I know how we should do it, too." China said proudly. From the sleeves on his robe, he pulled out a folded piece of paper, which he then unfolded. "I'll read out everyone's names and groups and see if you agree with it-aru." He began to read.

"So the Asian group will be me, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong." He looked up for confirmation, and then continued.

"The Russian group will be Russia, the Baltic States, Ukraine, and Belarus.  
The Germanic group will be Germany, Austria, Prussia and Ms. Hungary, and the Nordic group will be Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Denmark and Netherlands."

So far, everyone had agreed to this. There were a few countries that were a little unsure, such as Russia and his being with Belarus without much protection, and Prussia and Austria glared at each other. But they were really in no position to argue.

"Okay –aru. Western group is America, Spain, France, Sealand and Ms. Belgium can go with them even though she's not as western, but whatever.  
And this last group…let's call this…the Europe group…will be Egypt, Greece, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and Poland. Okay?"

The countries agreed that this was a good set up, and some even complimented China on his planning skills.

"Hey! Why are we called the Europe group?" Switzerland demanded. "Egypt's not even from Europe!"

Poland rolled his eyes. "Just go with it, would you?"

**/ Just to recap for you...^^**

**Asian Group= China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong**

**Russian Group= Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine**

**Nordic Group= Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Norway**

**Germanic=Germany, Austria, Prussia, Hungary**

**Western= America, Britain, France, Belgium, Spain**

**Europe= Egypt, Greece, Turkey, Switzerland, Poland, Liechtenstein **

**Sorry for the sudden mass of information. Thank you so much for reading! ^^ /**


	10. Hide and Seek

"**Why are we making these?"**

"The countries are going to Italy."

"_How do you know?"_

"He was sitting in a gondola in Venice. I read over his shoulder."

"**Who?"**

A sigh. "Italy."

"**I like this plan." **A raspy voice said happily

"_Me too! This will be perfect! Are you almost done?" _

The person with the raspy voice shook her head and continued freezing the person-like figures with ice.

"_Well hurry! I can't wait to get going!" _ The light, airy voice exclaimed.

"Don't get too enthusiastic." Came another voice. The others looked over at the owner of this voice, who was manipulating water into human figures in preparation to be frozen solid.

"**Why? This plan is awesome. They won't know what hit 'em!"**

"It may be a good plan, but keep in mind; we still don't know how powerful some of them are."

The lighter voice sighed. _"I wish we could just go up and ask them. That would be much easier…"_

"**That's not going to happen. Besides, what could go wrong with this plan?"**

"That's true. It would be easier, however, if we could just…" The flowing words trailed off, and the water that was morphing stopped suddenly.

"**What are you thinking?"**

There was no reply. But the person stiffened, eyes going wide.

"_Do you have another idea?" _ The light voice asked softly.

"No." The person said simply.

"**Oh." **That was disappointing.

"I have another plan." There was a hint of a smile in the person's voice this time.

"**Well what is it?"**

"I can't tell you right now. Keep freezing these."

"_So you have a plan, but you're not going to tell us?"_

"Actually, I will tell you. But I need you to do a favour for me first."

"**Both of us?"**

"Not you, her."

"_Okay! I can do a favour!" _ She smiled.

"Good. I need you to find a few things."

"_Sure. What did you lose?"_

"I didn't lose anything. I need you to find some countries for me."

"**Why does she need to do that? We already found some. And she let one get away."**

"I know that. I need you to find where they are again."

"_The last three?"_

"No. The first two. And a different one."

The flowing voice took out a piece of paper and a pen, and then wrote down three names.

"Go and find them."

The airy voice took the paper from the author and studied it. She stared at the last name on the list.

"_I thought you already-"_

"That was a while ago. Now go."

The girl nodded and left the room. As soon as she got outside, the pocketed the piece of paper, and lifted her arms above her head. Gradually, she began to lift into the sky, and was soon able to fly without any restraint.

The author of the list watched from a window.

"**How long do you think it will be until she comes back?"**

"Awhile."

There was silence as the flowing voice smiled. The person suddenly started whispering to the figure of the flying girl, who was floating high in the air now, and moving a little faster. "That's it. Find Canada and Cuba first." The whispers became sinister. "Then the other one." A larger smile.

"That's it North. Go find me Italy.


	11. German beer and Asian ninjas

It was December 5th when the countries set off. It had taken a few days for preparations; everyone had work to finish regarding their country before they left, not to mention the fact that everyone needed time to pack and prepare, receive a copy of Italy's letter, and have their passports ready, which wasn't easy when the country that you were from was literally you. Germany warned everyone to pack lightly, but to be prepared in case of a lengthy stay. This complicated things even more, as some of the countries had "needs" that could not be brought with them.

"I can't believe I have to leave my music behind!" Austria exclaimed with outrage as he paced back and forth in his piano room.

Hungary, who was sitting on the piano bench watching Austria pace, sighed. She was usually ready for any battle, fight, war or mission, but this one seemed like an impossible journey. After all, they were technically being asked by a country to enter said country while they were locked down. It would be difficult, and once or twice, Hungary wondered if it would be easier to stay at home, and wondered if this was really all a huge trap, and Italy was planning to conquer everyone.

As soon as she thought this, she remembered those days, long ago, when Italy was Chibitalia, and he lived here, in Austria's house. She could remember the sweet little child helping her with chores, and errands, never arguing, and always smiling. She shook her head. There was no way a good person like Italy would do something like that. After all, there was no way he could conquer the entire Earth. It just wasn't possible, no matter how powerful a country was.

So she only smiled at Austria who was mumbling something about music scores, and began to mentally ready herself for the challenge up ahead. Now though, a few days after she had convinced herself that she was doing the right thing and this journey would pay off, she wasn't so sure. It wasn't that Hungary minded travelling, it was the fact that she was travelling by foot through a forest, on their way to the Italian border.

The plan had been relatively simple.

The six groups had started out from different spots around Italy. All of the groups had started out from somewhere near Italy.

The Germanics started from Austria, the Asians from Greece, the Nordics from Netherlands, the Russians from Ukraine, the Westerns from France, and the Europeans from Switzerland.

They had all started at different intervals, so that they would all arrive at the Vatican around the same time. But the more Hungary thought about it, the more she worried. Time really was the key. They had to be in the country by the 15th of December. Nobody had any idea why, however, but they had all come up with the assumption that the 15th would be when Romano would start forcing isolation even more then he already had. Maybe more boarder patrols? The country was already in lock down though, and Hungary wondered how much more thorough Romano could get.

As Hungary, Austria, Prussia and Germany trekked through the forest, Hungary prayed that nothing would keep them from reaching their destination on time. She was already unsettled by the strange attacks on Sealand, Cuba and… who? Oh well. A good way into their hike, Germany who was at the front of the group, stopped suddenly.

"Let's stop here and set up camp. It's going to be dark soon." He said.

The other's didn't argue with this. As Hungary, Germany and Austria started gathering materials and preparing to make a fire, Prussia found a nice looking spot of grass, and stretched out on it, with a happy, but lazy sigh.

"Hey! Aren't you going to help us? You're the one who was complaining about being cold a minute ago!" Hungary yelled angrily to him.

"I was complaining, because the awesome me likes to complain!" Prussia snapped back. "Besides, even awesome nations like myself need a break once in a while." He smiled contently to himself.

Germany sighed in his usual irritated fashion. "Bruder! Get your lazy backside off of the ground and help us make a fire!" He shouted.

From 20 feet away, Germany could hear Prussia laughing. But he didn't move. Austria rolled his eyes.

"Let him be. If he won't help then he won't get any food or beer." He said snobbishly to the others.

With this, Prussia suddenly sat up and turned to them.

"You brought beer?" He said anxiously. Austria nodded and reached into a bag to show him the case of alcohol. That immediately got Prussia's attention.

"You can have some, if you help us start a fire." Austria said simply with a smug smile.

The Asians were moving quickly. South Korea, China, Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan were moving quickly. Maybe it was their ninja-like skills kicking in? Or maybe they were just trained to move quickly. Whatever the reason, the group of nations were running quickly through the forest.

China was leading, with the others running behind him. They were spread out with about twenty feet between them, but they could tell from the sounds of their shoes that they were still all together. In fact, the entire forest was oddly quiet as the countries ran, dodging trees and roots. Japan listened intently as the sounds of birds faded slowly.

It must have been the sound of five nations running so fast that scared them off…right?

Taiwan however wasn't thinking about the sounds. Her and Hong Kong were both wondering if they should slow down, so they did not arrive at their destination too early. The letter had said to get to Italy before the 15th, but what would they do if they were the first to arrive there? They would obviously stick out in a crowd; their clothes, their hair, and their ethnicities would be easily identifiable as outsiders. And didn't Romano tell everyone that there would be no outsiders allowed inside? Taiwan decided to brush this unnerving thought off. She had to concentrate on keeping a good pace. Besides, China would figure something out…probably.

Taiwan and the other Asians kept pace very well. Not only were they moving quickly, but they were almost moving soundlessly too.

Almost like ninjas now, as Hong Kong abandoned running, and took to moving through the trees. It was a complex task, but he did a very good job with it.

Luckily, the group had packed very light, and each one only had a small backpack on their backs. Taiwan was about to let her sub-conscious take over, and run without any thought, when Japan called out.

"Wait." The simple word was enough to slow down the others until they were close enough to each other to stop and listen.

"Hey! What's the problem? We were moving so fast!" South Korea complained. China shushed him and looked at Japan, who he noticed had a very thoughtful look on his face.

"I sense that the mood of the forest has changed." Japan said simply.

"Okaayyy….What does that mean?" South Korea asked impatiently.

"It means something's wrong." Japan said with concern as he tapped his chin thoughtfully.

"I don't see anything wrong." Taiwan commented as she put her hands on her hips. "But are you sure everything's okay?" She was worrying now.

Japan was about to reply when Hong Kong spoke.

"I hear something." He said simply, and turned his ear to the path they had just come from.

"I hear it too." Japan said as he looked back as well. China listened, and suddenly he could hear it too.

"I hear something as well-aru." He said and took off his back pack to make sure his little panda and his belongings were secured, before returning it to his back.

"What is that?" South Korea asked as he listened.

"I don't know, but I believe it sounds like…water." Japan said thoughtfully.

"Hm. That is weird. I don't remember passing a stream, do you?" Taiwan asked Hong Kong, who shook his head.

The realization and fear hit China hard as the small sound got a little louder.

"Water!" He said in alarm, and immediately, all eyes had widened in fear.

"Move-aru!" China shouted as the group took off running, sprinting much faster than they had before.

"It's getting louder!" Japan said in alarm as he ran. He glanced behind him, and his heart lept to his throat.

There was water flowing rapidly towards them now, and it rose to their ankles as they ran.

"Oh no!" Hong Kong exclaimed suddenly. The others looked back at him.

"What's wrong?!" South Korea said as he sprinted. Hong Kong looked up at the other nations.

"I can feel the ground shaking!" He cried.

"Me too!" Taiwan said, her voice high pitched and terrified.

The ground was really shaking now. Was it from the force of a lot of water?

South Korea confirmed this suspicion as he screamed a startled yell. The others looked behind them, and felt like screaming themselves. Farther behind, they could see the outlines of trees toppling over with the force of a massive amount of flooding water…that was coming rapidly towards them! The nations sprinted faster than they ever had before, with a new found force of adrenaline. The water at their ankles was now freezing cold, and they could feel in starting to slowly rise. On top of that, the rushing water was closer than before.

"CHINA! WHAT DO WE DO?!" South Korea yelled as he felt his toes go numb from the coldness of the water.

The Asians could hardly hear themselves over the roaring of the water. It was as if they were near a waterfall. China glanced behind and swallowed a scream. The rushing water causing so much panic was much closer now, and the water at their feet had risen slightly above their ankles now. The countries were wet now, as each footstep caused water to splash up at themselves, but kept running.

China despised this feeling, but he despised the fact that he was being forced to come up with a solution to save four other countries even more on such short notice.

But how could he complain? He was the oldest, therefore the leader. It had always been his job to look out for his family, no matter what the cost, no matter how much Taiwan liked Japan over him.

"China! What should we do?!" Hong Kong's smooth but panicked voice brought China out of his trance, and he began thinking again.

If the water caught up to them, was there a chance they could swim until it subsided? Probably not, there were too many trees, and they would be too exhausted. Another thought struck China. Would the water subside? Where was it coming from anyway? Where was it headed? China's head spun. Was this attack meant for them, or was it on its way to Italy? Would South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong be alright? Wait. Hong Kong.

China felt as though he had just found a cure for cancer.

"IN THE TREES!" He called back loud enough for the others to hear.

They immediately understood. Japan ran faster, and for a while, was further a head of China, when he suddenly jumped.

With amazing precision, he handed easily in a tall tree, his hand on his sword, Japanese warrior style.

China turned his attention to Taiwan. Would she be able to make a jump like that?

He didn't have to worry. Taiwan jumped with an admirable amount of height, somersaulted once, and landed feet first in the same tree as Japan.

Suddenly, China heard a sickening sound that made his heart sink like an anchor. Hong Kong had screamed, which wouldn't have been surprising, except that the sound was suddenly drowned out with water.

Hong Kong hadn't made it.

China forced himself to keep his eyes forward and jumped. For a millisecond, as he was airborne images flickered before his eyes. They were flashbacks. When he found Japan in the forest back home, when he built the great wall, when Taiwan yelled at him for snapping at Japan…They were small little flashbacks.

China's stomach knotted when he realized he might be experiencing his life flashing before his eyes.

Then he let his breath out, relieved as his hands gripped a branch in the tree. He pulled himself up and turned around.

Japan and Taiwan were in lower branches, but South Korea and Hong Kong were nowhere to be seen.

China felt like throwing up when he realized that South Korea hadn't had a chance to scream before the water swallowed him. The water was rising fast now. It was slowly climbing up the tall tree that the remaining nations were in.

"CLIMB-ARU!" He yelled at the top of his lungs down to Taiwan and Japan, who didn't need an invitation to start climbing. As they reached the furthest they could climb, China looked down.

The water had stopped rising, and Japan and Taiwan were safe, but the massive flood was still roaring.

"What now?" Taiwan screamed.

There was nowhere left to go now. Except…China looked ahead. There were other enormous trees like the one they were in, in front of them.

"Started jumping the trees! We might be able to make it to Italy before night if we hurry-aru!" He yelled.

Taiwan looked at him like he was crazy.

"Are you insane?! We can't jump these trees!" She snapped.

As she said this, China turned to prepare to jump to the next tree…and finally lost his patience.

"Fine, don't jump! But I want to live to see what the world is like in the next four-thousand years!" He said and leapt from the branch.

He made it to the next tree without any difficulty, and turned to see that Japan and Taiwan were following him.

"Let's go." Japan nodded as he landed in the tree next to him. Taiwan landed above them.

"Yes. Let's continue." She said in agreement.

The self-doubt and fear that was clouding China faded away now.

_We can do this._ He thought.

Maybe it was a crazy idea, and maybe it was even crazier to make a jump like that, but China wasn't one to give up. He was determined to make it to Italy.

But would determination be enough?


	12. Russian Winters and Nordic Winds

**A/N ERMYGAWD I'M SO SOWWY . I have failed...It's been so long since I've posted a chapter...I swear I've been working hard...Promise! Anyway, here it is. Chapter 12 :) Please do me a HUGE favor and leave some comments/reviews for me.**

**Also, guys I'd like some feedback on Norway and Iceland, because I'm not as familiar with their personalities as I am with the rest of the characters...So if they seem too OOC, please let me know. I want to make them as canon-like as possible!**

**Thank you 3**

"Ah! Hello little squirrel!" Russia said cheerily to a small squirrel that had crossed his path in the forest to get a nut on the ground. The little rodent looked up at the tall Russian with curious eyes.

"Become one with me, da?"

The squirrel dashed away with a look of horrific fear in its small eyes, completely forgetting about the nut. Russia laughed and waved cheerily at the clearly traumatized creature.

He, Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania had been walking for quite a while now, and they were now resting by some tall trees. Russia had been pacing, looking more insane than usual. Maybe it was the lack of vodka, but he seemed to really despise being in the forest.

Ukraine sat down on the grass and leaned up against the tree, beside her sister Belarus, who was lying down on the green, eyes closed.

Latvia and Lithuania were unpacking food and a blanket, in preparation for a picnic, while Estonia had opted to read in the shade, a few feet away.

The blond looked up as the squirrel scampered away. He chuckled to himself and turned back to his book. Even tiny creatures knew how scary Russia could be.

Russia however, didn't seem to be the least bit offended by this. He was staring thoughtfully at the spot that the little squirrel had dashed from.

Estonia looked up at the larger nation again. He was no longer smiling. His usual cheery expression was replaced with a blank one.

"Um…Boss?" Estonia said with uncertainty. "Is everything okay?"

Russia didn't seem to hear the other nation. He had now turned to look at the other countries. "Yes." He answered suddenly. His voice was blank, and devoid of happiness. Estonia thought he could hear a bit of worry in his boss' voice for once.

"Everything is being fine." Russia said. Suddenly, the taller nation snapped out of his trance and turned to smile his usual smile at Estonia, who nodded politely and went back to his book. He didn't read however.

Estonia wondered what could be bothering the bigger nation. _Then again,_ Estonia thought to himself, _the situation that we're in would bother even the strongest countries I suppose._ Suddenly, Estonia sat straight up and looked around. Something was off about this place. He just couldn't put his finger to it.

He watched as Belarus shifted in her nap, causing a small bunch of dandelions to shift. Wait…What?!

"Umm…Friends?" Estonia called to the group.

Russia, Ukraine, Latvia and Lithuania looked over to him, and Belarus opened an eye.

"I do not mean to alarm anyone, but…It is December." He said wearily.

Lithuania cocked his head. "What are you trying to pointing out, Estonia? We still having time before we have to get to Italy…" He couldn't help but worry about his friend. Estonia was very smart, and down-to-Earth. Unless it was Russia, nothing truly worried him a lot.

"I know but…It is winter…" He said as he looked around with curiosity. Russia seemed to be the only one who looked disturbed.

"It's gone. Someone took it." He said as he looked at a leaf on a tree. The leaf itself looked dry, but up close he could see that it was slightly damp.

"Who took all the snow?"

* * *

"I just love snow, don't you Sweden?" Finland commented cheerily as he kept up his happy pace through the forest. Sweden responded with his usual grunt, which meant he agreed.

"It reminds me of Christmas! Oh…I hope I can get back home in time for Christmas Eve…I just love seeing all of the little boys' and girls' faces when they open their presents!" Finland continued as he smiled even wider.

"Hey! Stop acting so girly finny!" Denmark called out teasingly from behind.

The Nordics were a little slower than the others. Maybe it was because Denmark had gotten tired so many times and had "insisted" on resting for at least half an hour. Whatever the reason, Iceland and Norway both had a feeling that the group should be further ahead by now.

"Hurry up, Denmark." Norway said in his usual mysterious tone.

Denmark winced for a moment, mentally despising the way Norway acted like he was a burden, and then rolled his eyes and walked a little faster. He couldn't help it though. The snow was pretty annoying. It made his boots a little wet on the bottom, and he hated that. Netherlands, who was walking briskly in front didn't seem to mind it though. Or maybe he did, but nobody could really tell. He kept up his pace.

A moment later, Sweden grunted again. This time, however, it was a more…discomforting grunt. Finland picked up on this and turned to his usually silent friend.

"What wrong, Sweden? Something the matter?" He said gently.

Sweden turned to him. "Cold." He said bluntly as he pulled his jacket tighter around him.

"Yeah…me too…" Finland nodded in agreement.

It had gotten colder. Finland tilted his head up to the sky, and watched as small little snowflakes started falling from the light grey clouds overhead. They started to fall straight down, but a sudden gust of wind made them go diagonally.

"Whoa…" Denmark breathed as he zipped up his jacket all the way and pulled the hood up. "The wind really hates us today." He said casually.

And it was true. The wind was now blowing like crazy, making all of the nations feel the need to pull their hoods up. A few minutes later, Iceland stopped.

"What's wrong Icey? Scared of a little wind?" Denmark laughed, but he himself was now shivering from the relentless icy winds.

"Ah…It's just so cold! My feet are kind of numb…" Iceland replied as he stomped on the ground in an attempt to circulate blood back to his feet.

"Uh…Guys?" Norway said with a bit of alarm, as the wind started to pick up the snow and swirl it in the air.

"Check this out." Finland said in wonder as he watched the wind dance with the snow.

It was almost beautiful. It was as if winter itself was dancing with joy…Swirling, and twisting with its dance partner; the wind.

"We should get going. Before the wind gets stronger." Netherlands said simply and started walking again. The group followed. And soon, Netherlands found he had been right. The wind was relentless, as it pushed against them and blew snow everywhere. It was only a few minutes later, before Netherlands had to use an arm to shield his eyes from the wind. The others were soon doing the same.

Finland blindly walked forward for a while, before he mustered up the courage to move his arm from his face and open his eyes. When he did though, he gasped.

The wind had picked up so much snow that Finland literally couldn't see anything but whiteness. What did some people call it again?

Oh yes.

A white-out.

The small nation gulped nervously as he blinked away the snow falling into his eyes. Finland looked out into the bleak whiteness and yelled.

"S-Sweden? Iceland? Netherlands? Denmark? Norway? Guys?!" He called out fearfully. Finland felt his heart start to beat faster.

How could a group of people just disappear?! The young nation started to walk forward a bit, instinctively extending his hands to feel in front of him, still calling the names of his fellow travelers.

Finland felt disoriented, and lost in the white surrounding him. He was glad to have the ground under his feet, as it was the only thing he knew the whereabouts of. But other than the snow-covered ground, everything else was horrible. Finland's senses were now being toyed with by this storm; he couldn't see anything and his eyes were constantly blinking away snowflakes, he couldn't feel anything but the ground under his feet, and his ears were being tortured by the sound of the rushing wind.

It wasn't until he had sunk to the ground on his hands and knees, disoriented, tired, and annoyed by the constant loud scream of wind in his ears that a miracle happened.

He felt a hand on his shoulder.

Not just any hand, Sweden's gloved hand.

"Sweden!" Finland exclaimed with relief as he looked up into the eyes of his friend.

"Come 'n." Sweden replied as he picked up his friend from the ground, and began to steer him to the left.

Finland was relieved for a minute, until he starting wondering whether or not Sweden actually knew where he was going. His thoughts were somehow answered a moment later, when Sweden and him suddenly walked into clear skies.

Finland felt his heart return to normal and a weight lift off of his shoulders, as he saw Norway and Iceland waving to the duo a couple feet away.

"Guys!" Finland said happily as he ran over to the two nations.

"Are you okay?" Iceland asked. Finland nodded.

"I'm fine. Sweden rescued me. Thanks a lot by the way Sweden. I really owe you one!" Sweden, who had walked up to the group, nodded in response.

All of a sudden, worry and fear hit Finland like a stone.

"Hey…Where's Denmark and Netherlands?!" He asked with concern.

"Back there." Norway said with a tone full of morbid as he pointed back to where Finland and Sweden had come from.

Finland turned around, and gasped.

What he and Sweden had emerged from was actually a swirling dome of white snow and strong wind.

"It's just like what happened to Sealand. The wind, I mean." Finland said absent-mindedly.

It was true. The dome was just too perfect and intense to be some sort of a freak storm. It had to be an attack.

"Where did all this snow come from, anyway?!"

Finland asked nobody in particular. The swirling dome thing was full of snow. It was basically all white powder, but Finland could see and feel the powerful wind coming from inside it.

"We all got trapped inside, but we were lucky to have found our way out." Iceland explained. "Then we heard you calling and Sweden went back inside to find you."

Finland looked back to the dome. It was pretty big, but suddenly, Finland started wondering how far he had actually walked when he was lost inside of it.

As if reading his mind, Sweden answered.

"We w're all w'lkin' in circles." He said.

"So what about Denmark and Netherlands?" Finland asked. "Are they still inside?"

Norway nodded. "We can't go back in and find them though. We have to move." Finland turned back to him.

"Why? We still have days before we have to get to Italy! And we can't just leave them in –"

"Finland. The dome is getting bigger." Norway cut him off.

Finland looked back to the dome. Norway was right. The snow and wind filled dome was slowly but surely starting to expand in size.

"But what about our friends?" Finland asked as he stared at the horrible sight in front of him, tears springing to his eyes, and threatening to spill on to his frost-bitten cheeks.

"Finland. Let's go." Iceland said simply as he started walking. "We can't do anything to help them. They're strong. They'll be fine."

Norway followed him, and Sweden took a couple steps away from the dome, and then stopped Finland was still standing in place, still staring at the dome.

"Finl-nd. Let's go." Finland didn't move. Iceland and Norway heard Sweden's prompt and stopped. Norway sighed.

"Finland, come on. Don't you want to help Italy?"

It was a low blow.

Finland whirled around and glared at the other nations behind him, his eyes full of anger and sadness.

"Italy doesn't need HELP! He's fine! He's probably just sad or not feeling well!"

Finland tried to defend his Italian friend, but inside he knew there was no point. Finland knew Italy probably wasn't okay, and that wherever he was, he probably did need his friends' help. But still…

"Finl'nd. Come 'n." Sweden prompted again.

Finland gave up fighting this time. As he started to walk quickly away from the dome, and from his two friends trapped inside. The four nations walked faster than before, wanting to put distance between themselves and the wind attack that had swallowed their friends.

As they walked Finland cried silently. A while ago, he was making toys and happily preparing toys for the upcoming Christmas.

Now, he was being forced to leave his two friends-no…Brothers- behind in a trap full of wind, on a quest to find his other friend, Italy.

As the group walked Finland hoped Denmark and Netherlands would be alright.

_Please be okay. You're both strong; I know you can do it._ He prayed.

Why did it have to turn out like this anyway? He thought of Italy, and wondered if his friend was hurt, or in danger, or scared...

_You've done so much. You deserve to be safe and happy. _Finland thought.

And suddenly, Finland realized something. Nobody had any idea where Italy had actually gone.

_Please be at home. Please be safe. Italy… Why would you give up your country? _He thought.

_Italy…What have you done to yourself?_


	13. European Openings and Western Victories

**WHAT?! SHE ACTUALLY WROTE ANOTHER CHAPTER?!**

**I know that's what you're all thinking.**

**Sorry for the EXTREME delay...but i've been busy with life and such and...**

**I've honestly been re-thinking my plot and story line...**

**Oh. And I had writers block.**

**ENJOY AND I WILL HAVE ANOTHER CHAPTER UP SOON!**

**(Reviews and Comments are universally appreciated! :3 )**

**-luvlani88**

"_Aman Tanrım!_ This is getting so boring!" Turkey complained as he adjusted his mask in frustration.

Greece, Liechtenstein, Poland, Switzerland, and Egypt were following behind him as they marched through the forest leading to Italy.

"Would you, like, stop complaining?" Poland shot back. "You're, like, not the only one with, like, problems, okay?"

Turkey looked back towards the blond. "You wanna know what my problem is, blondie? I'm freaking bored out of my mind here, and you're annoying voice keeps violating my selective hearing!" The taller man countered.

This wasn't an uncommon thing. Throughout their journey, Turkey and Poland had been extremely.. well.. snappy at each other. Egypt believed that this was probably just because of the cold, and the long trek to Italy, but eventually he chalked it down to the two countries just being plain annoying and looking for something to do. The Egyptian sighed to himself, and tried to tune out the bickering.

"Well, you wanna know, like, what my problem is? I'm, like, totally freezing over here, and you're, like, totally making this trip suck even more!"

"You know what you can suck? My vital regions. That is, if you were worthy enough to."

"Both of you shut up, before I hit you with my peace prize!" Switzerland finally snapped and shouted at the other countries. Turkey and Poland both stopped yelling, but continued to grumble under their breaths.

Liechtenstein looked up at her older brother. "Did you really bring your peace prize, big brother?"

Switzerland blinked in surprise and rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "Ah..Yes. I always like to bring it with me, just in case."

Liechtenstein smiled up at Switzerland, then readjusted her backpack before turning curiously to Egypt. "Are you cold too, Mr. Egypt?" She asked poliety.

Egypt nodded to the younger nation and sighed.

"I hear it's really hot in the desert. You must be freezing."

The Egyptian turned to Liechtenstein and gave her a small smile.

"I am cold. But I'm also uncomfortable from wearing so many layers."

Liechtenstein was about to reply when Greece commented.

"Ah…I'm uncomfortable too, my friend. I'm so tired…." He yawned as he continued his drowsy walk a couple steps behind them.

Liechtenstein pressed her lips together and shivered. It was pretty cold, and she hoped that they would arrive at their destination soon, where they were promised to have a meal. The young female nation zoned out as she walked, listening only to the sound of her travelling groups' footsteps on the wintry ground, and daydreaming of warm food by a fire. She sighed happily as she thought of the taste of hot soup and maybe some bread. Hmm… Some roasted chicken would taste heavenly as well.

As she thought about the deliciously warm and delicious taste of chicken and other foods, Liechtenstein sub-consciously licked her lips. The sudden cold air hitting the now wet surface of her lips jostled the small nation out of her daydreams, and she smiled to herself, but then frowned.

Why did she sense that something was wrong? As the group walked in silence, she racked her brain, trying to find what was suddenly missing. What could possibly be making her this uncomfortable?

The answer came when Poland stepped on a twig, and it snapped in the cold silence, the sound echoing in the air like a hot knife through a cold brick of butter. It sounded sharp.

Sound. Sound…

Liechtenstein finally clicked together the pieces of this mini puzzle, and understood why she had felt that something was missing.

Someone's footsteps were gone.

She whirled around and screamed, the sound slicing the silence that had consumed the group in a high-pitched blade. When the others turned sharply to see what had caused the usually soft-spoken nation to create such a sound, their breaths got caught in their throat and their hearts skipped a beat in panic.

About 20 feet away, Greece was standing still with his hands in his pockets and was evidently asleep, which wouldn't have been so bad…

If there wasn't ice crawling up his legs and accelerating to his torso.

The ice really did seem to take on a life of its own. It had a slight blueish glow to it, which even though it otherwise looked like regular ice, made it distinguishable from the ice that wasn't, you know, swallowing a nation whole. As the ice made its way to the beginning of Greece's torso, the rest of the group ran over to the sleeping nation, but then noticed that the evil ice had formed a frozen pool of ice around Greece.

It was like a trap. For a nation.

"Greece! Oh my god, wake up!" Poland shouted at the country, as the group tried to get the ice off of him.

Egypt, thinking on his feet, quickly located a rock, and began trying to chip away at the ice, as the others kept calling out. But it was no use.

The ice seemed unbreakable. Almost... indestructible.

"Come on, you sleeping idiot, wake up! Move or something!" Turkey snapped as he shook Greece's shoulders. It was no use though, the man was completely unconscious.

Switzerland suddenly pulled Turkey back from Greece, as the ice started making its way up to his shoulders, and soon his neck. As the others stepped back as well, the demonic ice quickly covered Greece's face and soon the nations found themselves staring helplessly at a completely frozen Greece. There was suddenly silence as the countries tried to process what had just happened. But before they could, the situation got worse.

Much worse.

There was a loud cracking sound, like a whip in motion. The ground started to open, allowing the now frozen Greece to start to sink into the ground, as the ice seemed to pull apart the earth and spread itself further, to open the hole, in which Greece was now sinking into.

"Oh my god…" Poland whispered as the countries watched in pure shock as Greece sank. As they watched the seemingly unreal horror unfold in front of them, Turkey looked down at the ice. It was spreading.

"Run."

Switzerland looked at him. "W-what?"

There was a cracking sound as the ice suddenly started to open more canals leading from Greece's sinking hole. Switzerland suddenly realized the situation that they were in.

Greece was sinking.

They were far from Italy.

And the ice was tearing the earth beneath them apart.

"Run!" Turkey yelled again.

Twice was enough for the others to understand. Poland took off running first, and a moment later, Egypt followed as he shook himself out of his shocked state. Switzerland grabbed Liechtenstein's hand quickly to pull her away, and they both took off running. A few steps later, Switzerland looked back.

"Turkey! Run!" He yelled back.

Even though the ice was quickly making deep cracks in the earth, Turkey stood frozen at the sight of the frozen country. He was almost completely swallowed by the earth now, only his head remained above, and he was still sinking.

Turkey couldn't bring himself to run. All those years of competition with this guy, and this is how he would go? It seemed like a sick joke.

_Greece had always given me a challenge._ Turkey thought. _Now…He's just gone? _

Switzerland's panicked call snapped him out of his trance. Turkey took one last look at the country, who was now almost completely gone.

_I guess I win this race._

He took off sprinting, forcing himself not to look back. He was fast, and passed Switzerland a moment later, but not by much. Each country was sprinting their hardest, trying to escape from the cracks appearing in the earth, as the ice zoomed across the ground, as if each one of its particles was multiplying, allowing it to create more of itself. Switzerland looked back, and his heart nearly stopped.

The cracks were getting bigger. Deeper. Their sound was louder. It filled his ears and made his head ring.

No, that was the sound of Liechtenstein screaming.

"Liechtenstein!" He screamed as his younger sister fell into a chasm opened by the ice ahead of him.

Less than a moment later, Egypt fell into one as well, letting out a startled scream as he disappeared.

Switzerland could only stop for a minute as he stared into the seemingly endless hole where his sister had fallen, before Poland grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and hauled him away.

"LET ME GO! I HAVE TO HELP LIECHTENSTEIN!" The nation yelled as he tried to resist.

"We have to, like, move! She's a nation, so she can't, like, die or anything! Come on!" Poland tried again desperately to move the nation, but he kept resisting.

"No! Liechtenstein!"

Turkey, who was in front, back tracked a bit, and helped Poland to pull Switzerland away, before the ice caused the ground to start to cave in where they had been standing.

As Switzerland tried desperately to run back to the spot where his sister had been, he realized what had just happened.

_This is madness!_ He thought. _Greece is frozen, Egypt and Liechtenstein are gone!_

Finally, he turned and starting running forward again, mentally promising to find Liechtenstein and the others, maybe when he got to Italy.

Whoever was responsible was going to pay. No matter what. But the question still lingered in his mind as the surviving countries ran.

_Who the hell was doing this?_

* * *

"Hey Britain! Do real countries go on adventurous journeys like this ALL the time?" Sealand asked excitedly as he skipped happily.

"No, only when we have nothing better to do." Britain replied sarcastically as he rolled his eyes.

Britain, Sealand, America, France, Spain and Belgium were pretty close to their goal. The entire trip, Sealand had been and remained in ultimate excited mode; he was crazy excited about going to Italy with all of these big countries.

_And to solve a national crime too!_ Sealand thought happily. _I'll be just like Sherlock Holmes!_

The 'bigger' countries in the group however weren't as excited.

Spain and Belgium had been talking to each other for most of the trip, about…everything. They talked about the attacks on Sealand and the other two, how the weather was, how cute Romano was ("Still is!" In Spain's opinion.) when he was a chibi, and even compared economy traits and other national characteristics.

Britain and America, however, had a more tense silence around them.

They had had a few "rows" (as Britain mentally called it), as they had argued a considerable amount over things that the others almost felt the need to deem as pointless. Things like weather patterns, the direction the group was going in, speed, time, etc. They hadn't said anything to each other in a while, but the other's could still feel the tense, angry and slightly awkward silence between the two.

Strangely enough, everyone's favorite French nation was silent with his own thoughts. Other than answering the occasional question thrown his way, for once, France seemed totally unsocial. He wasn't walking the way he normally did either; his signature rose wasn't in his hand, but rather in his pocket. He wasn't walking with an air of elegance and confidence. In fact, you could even say that he was walking like a normal human.

Weird, right?

Nobody tried to push France to be more social. Everyone, except Sealand, had mentally determined that France was feeling the emotional effects of losing a friend. Nobody really knew how deep their relationship had been, but it was pretty obvious at the meeting in Germany's house, when they had first found out about Italy's resignation, that France had been, and probably was still shocked, horrified, and hurt by this. So they left him to his thoughts, out of respect.

"Oh, please, Britain. What could you possibly have to do that's better than this? Find another tea and spend an hour sampling it?" America snapped at the British gentleman.

Britain wheeled on him and gave him a death glare.

"And what could you be doing America? Getting involved in another war that you have no business being in?!" Britain finally lost his patience, and EVERYONE noticed.

Because THAT was a low blow.

America's eyes widened in surprise, shock and anger. Spain and Belgium's conversation stopped, Sealand winced and moved out of the range of fire, so he was behind France.

"You know what Britain? I think you're just jealous." America responded.

"Jealous! Of what?!" Britain scoffed.

"You're jealous because I have a better economy, better national relationships with everyone-" America began but Britain cut him off.

"Oh Please! You're just full of hot air because you think you're the hero!"

"Enough!" France snapped suddenly.

"You are both acting like spoiled _enfants_! Why is it that you too cannot be in the same area as each other for more than 20 minutes without trying to kill each other?!"

For once, the blonde seemed genuinely angry. It was as if he wasn't even the same person. No…This France was serious, angry, and had no resemblance of the old France's personality traits.

Britain couldn't help wonder…Where did France go?

"France…?" Britain said softly. The French man turned sharply to Britain.

"What?" Britain shied back.

"…Um…Is everything-"

"Hey look!" Sealand exclaimed suddenly.

The others turned to the youngest micronation. "What is it Sealand?" America asked.

"Look! Look! We've completed our journey!" Sealand pumped a hand in the air and put his other one on his hip, looking like a general who had just declared a victory.

"Completed our journey…?" Britain repeated under his breath as he walked in front of the group in wonder to see what Sealand had meant. He under stood a moment later, when he saw what Sealand had meant on the ground about 15 feet away.

A road.

It was paved with black asphalt and had a sign near it; however, Britain couldn't understand it.

It was written in Italian.

" We've made it!" Sealand jumped around with excitement.

"Yes…It appears you're right Sealand." Britain said as he stared at the road. He turned around and smiled back to the group.

"We've made it to Italy."

* * *

**Aman Tanrim - **Oh my God (Turkish)

**Enfants- **Children (French)


	14. La Germania

**Whoot! She's back!**

**This time, I'm doing something a little...different :)**

**This chapter will be in Germany's point of view, with a few flash backs in addition to the current actions.**

**So basically, there's gonna be some flashbacks.**

**Review, Rate, Follow and Favorite, because I love it when you do 3**

**PS. Thanks for reading :)**

**~Luvlani88**

_***Germany's POV***_

The last time I was in Italy was during World War Two. I didn't see much, mostly just military bases, a couple of streets filled with vendors, but nothing much. I hadn't intended to go sight seeing, especially not during a war. So I stuck to what was required of me. I preformed my military duties with ease. I learned simple Italian phrases like "What time is it?" so I wouldn't be completely helpless without an Italian to German dictionary. As we approached a small group of about 6 Italian officials, I wondered how much Italian I could remember. I didn't think that the others knew much or any Italian, so I hoped that I could help tackle the language barrier.

"_Nessun ingresso nel paese_." One of the gaurds said.

Well apparently I was wrong.

None of us had no idea how to respond or what to say to that. He held up his hand as if trying to stop us.

"I'm sorry could you repeat that?" Hungary said nervously as she looked around at us, waiting for someone to assist the situation.

"_Non ci sono gli immigrati, turisti o visitatori ammessi nel paese._"

Verdammit.

Austria, Hungary, Prussia and myself were finally at the Italian border. We could still see some people exiting the country in cars and other methods of transportation, and being guided out by Italian officials. Needless to say, trying to get into a now locked down country by walking obviously wasn't goin to be easy. In fact, now that I was thinking about it, it was pretty much impossible. The more and more I thought it over, I realized how riduculous this all seemed. Italy, or whoever wrote that letter claiming to be him, was basically asking us to get into his country, on foot, _after_ he locks it down, and apperantly doesn't tell anyone but Romano, who may or may not be the most welcoming person on earth, that we're coming. Suspicious? Yes. Believable? No. We stepped back from the guards for a minute and looked at each other.

"So. Vhat now?" Prussia asked nobody in particular with a sarcastic yet annoyed expression.

Austria frowned, thinking this situation over. I frowned to, assessing our options.

"Vell, ve do have the letter zhat Italy sent us. Ve could show it to the guards, maybe?" Austria suggested.

I shook my head. "I doubt it vill get us in. It may be from Italy, as far as ve can tell, but he didn't write any indication of a message to zhe officials, in Italian, I mean."

I sighed. How had we not seen this obstacle?

"_Az útlevél!_" Hungary exclaimed suddenly in Hungarian. We all looked at her in confusion.

"I mean, our passports! Maybe zhat's why Italy asked us to bring them, to allow us access!" She quickly explained.

How could I have missed that?!

"You're probably right! Let's give it a shot, ja?" Prussia grinned.

Austria seemed to be in agreement, so we went back over to the officials. The Italians had obviously been eyeing us suspiciously but they seemed polite enough to be willing to let us try and communicate again.

Prussia nudged me suddenly. "Bruder, try Italian."

I looked at him. "I can't talk to zhem, bruder, I-"

"Just try! Vhat do ve have to lose?" He cut me off.

_Our dignity? _ I thought sarcastically, but stepped forward slightly and tried to address the guards.

"_Ciao. Il mio nome è la Germania_."

I tried to keep myself from stumbling over the foreign words as I showed him my passport. My Italian was less than primitive.

* * *

A long time ago, Italy had said my name in Italian. It was back when we had first met, but I had remembered it. While he was prisoner, I asked if he was really the real Italy. I hadn't believed it of course, I mean, come on, look at him. But when I asked, he looked up from the cook book he had been reading and smiled brightly.

"_Si. _It's-a nice to-a meet you, _Germania." _He had said.

I had looked at him in confusion.

"Germania was my grandfather's name."

I said, unsure how to respond. He was just so...cheery. And I was stunned by the elegance of the foreign language, even if it was just two words in Italian. No, I was stunned by the way he had said Germania.

"Oh, I-a know." Italy laughed. "That's just-a me saying Germany in-a Italiano."

He brushed it off, and continued reading a recipe.

I hadn't second guessed his identity after that. But ever since then, I was fascinated by his tongue.

No, wait. That sounds like something France would say.

Damn Frenchie...

I mean, I was amazed with his native tongue. It was unlike anything I had ever heard before. Where my words were rough and sharp, the Italian's words were slurred and elegant. It sounded so rich. So fluent.

Ever since then, I secretly enjoyed hearing Italy, or even Romano speak Italian. Italy didn't speak Italian around me though. I assumed it was because he knew I wouldn't understand it, so the only time I got to hear it was when he was talking to another Italian, usually Romano or one of his governors or military personnel.

One time, I had come home late from a meeting, and could smell Italy's cooking coming from the kitchen. There was something else though.

Italy was singing softly as he prepared a meal, which I knew would of course taste as delicious as always. The words of the song were in Italian and his voice faded in and out, as he got distracted with a task, but I couldn't help but listen.

It sounded beautiful. Like a lullaby that a mother would sing to a child, but I still felt that there was something else embedded in the song. I couldn't understand any of the lyrics, but the way Italy sang, it seemed like there was another emotion along with love in it.

Was it, sadness? His voice had a strange feeling to it. I never knew Italy could sing so well, but still...That night, I pretended to come home a minute later so I could hear Italy sing without him knowing. I never heard Italy sing like that again, but the song still lingered in my head, his voice still laced with the lyrics.

The beauty still entwined with sadness.

* * *

_" La Germania? Aspetta un minuto. Beniamino, vieni qui! _" He said as he gestured another guard over.

Beniamino, the other guard came over, eyeing us with curiosity. The first guard gestured for me to give him my passport, so I did. The two guards were now looking at it with speculation, and were talking to each other in rapid Italian. A moment later, the new guard, Beniamino looked up at us and gave us a polite bow.

"I am-a sorry for-a the trouble. You will-a be allowed into the-a country, but we-a cannot give-a you an escort." He said in broken english with a thick Italian accent.

We all breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, someone who spoke English!

"_Grazie._" I answered. "By the way, could you give us directions to Vatican City?"

Might as well take advantage of the situation, right?

The officer frowned. "We-a can't give-a you that-a information, but it-a isn't that-a hard to-a find."

Well, I tried.

I thanked Beniamino again, and they allowed the four of us to walk across the border.

"Wow. I hope zhe others have zhe same idea..." Prussia muttered as we passed under the wall.

We took a few steps in the shadows, until we stepped into the light. As the light hit our eyes, the shock came. We all gasped.

It was beautiful.

I couldn't help but stop and stare at the scene in front of me. The streets of Italy were narrow, and the buildings were tall and looming over them, which made it feel comfortably secure without being too overbearing. And the people...If I hadn't just passed the border to this place, I would swear I was in happy land. Everyone seemed so happy. There were people walking with friends laughing with glee, vendors smiling happily to their customers, and children were playing with faces full of joy. There was an air of pure delight. As if everyone had just received the best news of their life. Maybe I was just exaggerating, but I had honestly never been to a country where everyone seemed so elated. I had to wonder if they were all drunk. No. Italy is really just a pleasant country, full of happiness. Full of cheer. Full of...elegance. Yes, it was elegant. Something about the way the people spoke, moved, and just...seemed.

It was so elegant. So beautiful.

* * *

"Are you always this happy?" I had asked Italy one time, back in World War Two.

He was sitting on the couch in my office, and I had been doing paperwork, while he hummed a song as he sketched something on a drawing pad.

He looked up from his drawing as I spoke, his usual casual smile gone and replaced with a look of innocent curiosity and thoughtfulness.

"I mean, no offense or anything..." I wasn't sure how to respond to his expression.

I figured he would've just grinned or nodded, but for some reason I felt like I was offending him. Finally he smiled.

"You should meet my citizens. They're always happy." He said simply and stood up.

"I'm hungry. Do you want some pasta?" He asked.

I shook my head no and he dropped his drawing pad and pencil down on the couch and left the room, almost skipping towards the kitchen. I stared at his back as he left, and frowned.

He hadn't really answered my question.

I looked back towards the drawing pad on the couch. On a whim, I stood up and walked over to it, gazing at it without actually picking it up.

Once again, I was amazed with Italy's work.

The lines and shading so beautifully done. The scene seemed complete even though there wasn't much detail. This incomplete drawing had to be what he considered a doodle, even though most artists would kill to be able to quickly sketch something so elegant.

The scene itself, however, made me purse my lips together.

He had drawn a tree. A tall, branching tree that had sunlight coming through the branches. What made me uneasy though was the fact that he had been in the process of drawing a figure.

A figure that was hanging from the tree with a rope around its neck.

I leaned forward, trying to look closer at the incomplete figure. It had to be just the basis of what would become a person, who had obviously committed suicide.

Why would Italy draw such a sad and disturbing picture? I hadn't seen many of his sketches, but they couldn't all be this depressing, right?

I decided it was an artistic muse. He must draw every type of scene, object, whatever, in every art style. Like an experiment, right?

I mean, Italy was always happy. Happiness was like his default emotion.

I went back to my desk and continued my paperwork, pushing the drawing out of my head.

Italy was always happy.

Right?

* * *

_Nessun ingresso nel paese= No entry into the country (Italian)_

_Non ci sono gli immigrati, turisti o visitatori ammessi nel paese= There are no immigrants, tourists, or visitors, allowed in the country (Italian)_

_Az útlevél! = Our passports! (Hungarian)_

_Ciao. Il mio nome è la Germania = Hello. My name is Germany. (Italian)_

_La Germania? Aspetta un minuto. Beniamino, vieni qui! = Germany? Wait a minute. Beniamon, come here! (Italian)_

_Grazie = Thank you. (Italian)_


	15. Sixth sense

**BOOM! I'm back baby!**

**Here's another chapter, because that's just how I roll ;)**

**This little number is in Japan's point of view. You can tell because I added -san after almost every name.**

**Also, there's small flashback in here, but it's not as big.**

**Enjoy!**

**Of course, reveiws are appreciated and encouraged. Seriously. You have no idea how happy I get when I get notifications saying that someone left me a review. I freaking love those things.**

**Even if it's criticizing. Seriously.**

**Love ya 3**

***Japan's POV***

I was impressed with Italy. Again.

The last time I was here, was one of the most spectacular trips I had ever made. Being back in this place again…I felt happier. You could almost call it satisfaction. I believed it was because my family and I had finally made it to Italy, and had managed to get in the country without too much trouble.

China's idea had worked. We did keep jumping through the trees until we were safe again. I couldn't help but notice though, that the water that had attacked us and swallowed South Korea and Hong Kong disappeared just as we neared a more civilized area. Everyone had opted to stick to the paths leading through the forest so as not to be discovered by tourists, citizens or anyone else, but as soon as we happened to meet with a highway, the water retreated.

We retraced our steps a few hundred feet back, to see if we could find Hong Kong or South Korea, but there was no sign of them. As disappointed and worried as I was, I could sense that China was even more so. It was quite simple to understand why.

I knew Taiwan blamed him, which was very unfair, but there was no point in trying to convince her otherwise. I could also sense that Taiwan was afraid. I guess in a way, we all were, but her feeling of fear ran deep, much deeper. My reasoning for this was because she had just witnessed members of her family being swallowed by tons of rushing water. Also, because I knew that China had been careful to keep her out of harm's way as a child. Perhaps that was her reasoning as well.

China had always made sure she was safe, inside, and never let her wander around or step away even for a minute. Over-protection was the word. Taiwan had been so sheltered growing up, and now that disaster had struck, she had no idea how to react. No experience with this type of chaos, which rendered her unstable, unsure, and terrified. Perhaps she had realized this as well? I knew it would be impolite for me to ask, even though she was my sister. I preferred to leave her to her thoughts, and to let her figure this out on her own. She was a nation, she knew her limits.

And so the three of us hardly talked the rest of the way unless it was important. There were no comforting words to be said about this. No way to lighten the mood. It was too early for that. I, myself found comfort in remembering. My childhood was one of the best times of my life. I had a big family, and there was lots of affection to go around. Of course, most of the time I felt slightly uncomfortable being in close contact with anyone, but with my family, I had always felt just a little bit safer. So as we continued, I remembered the happier times with Hong Kong and South Korea. All of the jokes South Korea would make, the tea Hong Kong would always prefer, the little things that made me smile.

As humble as I am as a person, I have to admit, my skills of sensing the mood were excellent for knowing how to react to certain people. China had always called it a gift, but there was a part of the gift that was missing, that I found to be most important. I was terrible at determining my own feelings. Perhaps that was why I had always preferred to remain silent; to think and reflect on my own emotions. I knew that I felt sad, hurt, and worried about what had happened. But I just couldn't put my finger on another emotion brewing deep inside me.

Was this…anger?

I had tried getting angry once with Greece after he had asked me to make an attempt, but I hadn't done very well at all. But this was different. I almost felt myself wanting revenge.

Revenge? That was…appropriate I suppose, after all that this mysterious person (or team) has done so far. But still…acting rashly would only ensure more troubles. And I already knew China had a lot to sort out. So I forced my self to mentally turn away from that emotion. Yes, I was angry. And perhaps I did want revenge. But I refused to let that interfere with my logical and emotionally accurate thought and planning process. I had worked much too hard learning how to keep my emotions balanced.

Speaking of emotions…I had yet to sense China's mood. For a minute, I stared at the back of his head, before I looked away and focused on something else. It was common sense that he was most likely feeling an emotion usually labeled as self-loathe, so I left him to his thoughts. I didn't have to worry about accidently losing focus and starting to read his emotions however, because I was too busy admiring Italy.

When we neared the entrance to the Vatican City however, I suddenly remembered something that made my blood run cold with suspicion. Back in World War Two, I had a conversation with Italy, which I wish I had remembered earlier.

* * *

"It is so nice!" I exclaimed. I was never very loud, but I just had to show my appreciation and admiration to Italy-san and his country.

"Thank you! I'm glad you like it! We're famous for our food you know!~" Italy-san replied as we continued walking down a semi-crowded street.

I had no idea where we were going next, having just come from a restaurant a few blocks back, but at that point it didn't really matter. It had only been a couple of hours, and I was already fascinated by this country. The accents were amazing, the food was amazing, and everyone was so friendly.

As we kept walking, I looked through the Italian travel guide that I had acquired. Italy-san had laughed and said I really didn't need it, as he volunteered to be my personal tour-guide, but I wanted to look through it anyway. He smiled as I looked at a picture of a city called Venice. I couldn't read any of the words as they were (for some reason) written in Italian, but the pictures were enough. I remembered being delighted by the images captured of this beautiful country, until I came to a section with information of something I didn't understand. I looked at the name written on the building and frowned.

"Itary-san? May I ask you a question?" I asked.

The Italian beamed. "Of course! What ever you want!" He said as he waved to a man several feet away, who obviously knew him.

"Werr.. I noticed this section in this book, and well…I do not understand… You and your brother have no power over the Vatican City?" I didn't want to ask such a question but my curiosity got the better of me. How immature.

"Nope. Vatican City used to belong to Grandpa Rome, but Vatican is independent now. He was pretty nice about the whole thing! ~" I had completely forgotten about this new information by the time we met with Germany-san.

I wish I had remembered this sooner.

* * *

I was about to mention this out loud, when I realized we had caught up to the others. The other nations were regrouping, which would've been fine, except it seemed that other groups had been attacked as well.

Switzerland-san looked extremely anxious and angry, and he and his group were all shivering. Finland had tears streaming down his face, and looked completely windblown.

"There they are!" Britain exclaimed as he noticed us coming. "What the bloody hell happened to you?!"

I couldn't help but wonder if we looked worse than we felt. We were all soaked, that was for sure. Not to mention disoriented, tired, and depressed. I was about to speak, but China took the stand. He explained what everything that had happened to us on our way to Italy, including the absence of our fellow family members. There was a chorus of gasps and attempts at comforting but I couldn't help but wonder what had happened to everyone else.

"What happened to you guys, aru?" China asked as he looked around.

The other groups who were attacked explained. Switzerland's was the hardest to hear, as I could sense that the emotions in the aftermath had taken a very big toll on him. Still, he explained their story without a single break in his voice. I was impressed by the blonde nation for being able to hold himself together for so long.

As I started to sense the emotions being radiated by each country, I began to take note on the absences of others; Hong Kong, South Korea, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Denmark, Egypt and Greece were gone.

I felt a pang in my chest as I realized that nobody truly knew what the fate of our friends would be. After Norway-san had finished explaining his story, everyone was silent. We looked around at each other, judging the emotions written on our faces, and trying to decipher the hidden ones buried deeper.

Finally, Ms. Belgium broke the silence. "Well, we're here. We should at least be thankful for that." She smiled softly.

I sensed a feeling of deep sadness from hearing about the loss of her brother, Netherlands, even though she tried to smile. The rest of us nodded or gave murmurs of approval.

"Yes, we should be relieved." Ms. Hungary agreed. "We have made it to our destination, after all."

"But…vhy are we here?" Austria-san said suddenly. He pushed his glasses higher up on his nose, with his irritated, unimpressed expression unchanged.

We all looked around at each other. Suddenly, I could sense a strong tide of emotions; uncertainty, annoyance, anger, sadness, confusion, and reluctance, in the group. I could tell there was about to be a wave of questions, concerns, and doubt.

"Because, he asked us to." America-san answered simply as he brushed a bit of hair out of his face, which held an expression I do not believe I have ever encountered.

It was leadership, mixed with confidence, but not his usual confidence. No…this expression reminded me of a wise old nation who was strong and willing to fight, but also willing to be careful and not be hasty. In short, I have to admit that his expression reminded me of Britain-san's.

"What do you mean? Are you saying we came, like, all this way just because Italy told us to?" Poland demanded.

"He's right. Why did we come? Italy isn't even in charge of his country anymore, remember? He's…fallen!" Ms. Belarus stated quite clearly.

There was stunned silence as everyone processed these words.

"What does 'fallen' mean?" Sealand-kun asked quietly.

Britain-san blinked, and subconsciously reached down to take the micronation's hand.

"It's a term that we big nations use." He explained. "When a nation 'dies' or loses power and is taken over, it's fallen." Sealand-kun blinked.

"You mean like…Like Rome and Germania? Are they fallen because they 're gone?"

Britain-san hesitated for a moment, and then nodded. "Yes, I suppose you could describe it like that. For a nation to fall…It's not very common."

Sealand-kun seemed to understand.

"Italy hasn't fallen. " It took me a moment to process who had spoken, before I realized it was Germany-san. We all looked towards the blond nation.

"Germany…" Ms. Hungary said softly.

"He isn't…" Germany-san looked as if he was trying to come up with the right words to make his point. "Italy…He hasn't fallen. There is still a country called Italia on the map. Romano is still here." He looked around at us.

"Italy is alive. He didn't fall, he couldn't have!" I sensed a bit of anger in his last sentence.

"You're right, Germany. Italy hasn't fallen." America-san said again.

"Why did we all come? Before we left, three personifications were attacked by some mysterious force, and two almost disappeared. After that, the personification of North Italy resigns. On our way here, we're attacked, and some of us get kidnapped." America-san looked around at the rest of the countries, with an almost annoyed look.

"Tell me that's not some sort of sign, or something! This isn't just another country getting angry over its economy! This is something bigger…Something that we can only stop if we work together! We shouldn't be standing here debating over it; we should be working to stop this force before this happens again!" His voice was louder now.

I was impressed. He definitely had a leader's personality.

"Amerique is right." France-san agreed. "We 'ave to 'elp our friends and family."

I wondered how much Canada-kun's victimization had affected him.

"Zhis is something much bigger." He continued. "Zhis is…" He stopped searching for the right word, but America-san finished for him.

"Terrorism."

He said it simply, but I could sense a feeling of anger and something else as he said this.

"Oui. Zhat is correct. We must stop zhis before it gets worse." France-san finished.

"Well then, let's go!" Switzerland said impatiently. "We're here in Italy, so let's get some answers already!"

Italy…The Vatican….Oh! I suddenly remembered my intentions of telling everyone about the conversation I had with Italy-san.

"Alright, let's go in then…" America-san's voice trailed off as we all looked up at the entrance to Vatican City.

The entrance was grand, but we were unsure if officials would once again let us in on foot.

"So…do we just…ring a doorbell or somethin'?" He asked nobody in particular.

"We don't have a doorbell, but please come in anyway." A voice said.  
The owner of the voice walked up to us, as we turned to him. He was tall, with green eyes hidden behind glasses and dark brown, almost black hair. He had a pale complexion, but had prominent features and an intense gaze. His mouth was a thin line that was curved into a polite smile. The one thing I noticed most however was the fact that he was wearing all black and a half-white collar.

Was he a priest?

"Who are you?" Russia-san asked as the stranger approached us.  
He had a bible tucked under one arm. He smiled wider and pushed his glasses up on his nose.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but I have been sent to collect you all and escort you to Vatican City." He said simply.

"By…?" Germany-san asked suspiciously.

I knew that he knew the answer, but I sensed that he was suspicious of this man. I decided that he simply wanted to see how much this stranger knew about our intentions. But there was no hesitation with his answer.

"_Signor _Romano has asked for you to have a personal escort." He stared back at Germany-san.

I realized now would be a good time to speak up. "Excuse me. Pardon my interruption, but I fert it nessicary to remind everyone that the Vatican City is not part of Itary." I said during the small silence.

It triggered some surprise. A few nations had forgotten this fact, some had never known, and some, like the Baltic stated had apparently known this already.

"So. If zhis is true, who are you and vhat business does Romano intend to conduct?" Germany-san asked sharply.

I admired the directness of the question. The letter from Italy-san had said that his brother would 'explain everything'. But what did 'everything' mean?  
Austria-san blinked and smiled politely.

"I'm sorry. Vill you just...give us a moment?" He said. The man nodded, so we all moved into a group huddle.

"I think we should trust him." Ukraine-san said. "He IS Italian, and he was sent by Romano, right?"

Switzerland-san shook his head. "We don't even know his name!"

"Hang on. Didn't that letter from Italy…err…the old Italy…didn't it tell us to go in without an invite?" Britain-san pointed out.  
I could sense that Germany-san did not appreciate the way he called Italy-san the OLD Italy personification.

"Plans change?" Prussia-san offered weakly with a shrug.

"We have to trust him though." Finland-kun pleaded. "Ukraine's right. He was sent by Romano. This could be our way in to the answers!"

"How can we trust him? What if he's just some Italian preacher trying to get us all to read the book of god?" Turkey-san said abruptly.

"I'm pretty sure that's, like, a little far-fetched, even for you! Come on! He's, like, totally official!" Poland-san commented with a dismissive wave of his hand.

"We still do not know his name, aru…" China spoke up suddenly.

Everyone looked around at each other as we each assessed our options.

"Well alrighty then. Let's just ask him for his name!" America-san said suddenly with a shrug and broke away from the group.

"Wait! America!" Britain-san whisper-shouted after him. America-san didn't listen and strolled over to the stranger, grinning as usual.  
I turned back to the others.  
"It is possible that he is our escort."

France-san tilted his head thoughtfully. "Oui…I suppose…It does make sense for zhere to be a quick way in."

"No way. This is creepy. I feel so uncomfortable…" Lithuania-san was shaking.

"He's right. It is creepy. But think of what just happened to all of us." Norway-san pointed out. "Are we really going to go all this way just for nothing?"  
As we processed this, America-san finished his conversation with the man and strolled back over to us.

"So? What did he say?" Russia-san asked.

"Do you think we can trust him to lead us in?" Britain-san demanded.

"Hm? Oh yeah. Deffs." America-san said half-heartedly.

"You seem unsure." Germany-san said cautiously.

"Trust me, dude. I'm pretty sure we can trust this guy. He'll definitely know his way around." America-san had a smirk.

"Why do you say that?" Iceland-san asked.

"What's his name anyway?" Taiwan looked back to the stranger, who was still waiting patiently, than looked back at America-san.

"Oh, yeah. He said his name was Vatican."

As we stared at him in shock, Spain-san suddenly pulled out his iPhone. "Hey. I just got a text. From Romano." We all turned our surprised expressions to him.

"What does it say?" Ms. Belgium asked him.  
Spain-san frowned.

"It says; _Hey. I can see you bastards just standing there outside. Come in already! Vatican can't give you the answers, but I can."_


	16. Guests or Prisoners?

***Le dead* I started working on this at 11:35 last night because I just couldn't wait till morning ^_^ **

**Anyway, there's a couple things I want to say before you scroll down! Firstly, I just wanted to say thanks for the reads, reviews, favorites, and follows! All are greatly appreciated!**

**Second, I was wondering how you guys feel about the format/layout? I can't be the judge of how you prefer it or anything, so some comments on this would be beneficial to me, and to the other readers!**

**Thirdly, I wanted to know how you guys feel about the length of each chapter? I know most on the ones in the beginning were pretty short, and so I've been trying to make up for it by adding more content to each chapter. In fact, I think this one is the longest so far, or at least one of the longest!  
So should I add more content in the chapters?**

**Lastly, I feel like I'm kinda dragging the story out too much. I mean, the plot is there but I feel like I'm making you wait 2 chapters just to kinda see what happens next...Should I hurry up the story and cut down on the number of chapters? Or should I make it detailed and more...emotional over a few more? Let me know what you think about the pace of the story!**

**That is all! Please enjoy this chapter!**

**(*SPOLIER* try not to cry near the end!)**

**Love ya!**

* * *

"You did excellent. I should reward you."  
She said to me as I blinked in surprise.

"Reward? Really?!" I asked hopefully. I DID work hard! I couldn't imagine what the reward could be though. I hadn't really done much but work since I woke up, so I didn't really have any hobbies. Still though, I was excited for the reward that big sister would give me!

"Yes. I will reward you." She said as she ran a hand through her hair. Why has she been looking more and more tired lately? I hoped she wasn't going to fall back asleep.

"You mean, I get a present?" She frowned slightly. "No…It's more like a new assignment." She smiled coolly. "One that you will enjoy." I grinned.  
Most of my assignments were easy, although some were slightly more difficult. The last one I had involved a lot of flying back and forth, and locating the countries was just another task, but I had gotten it done in record time!

"Okay! What's my assignment?" She produced a book from behind her back. "Is that a…cook book?" I asked quizzically. Was I supposed to make dinner? "Yes. Follow me." She turned with an admirably impressive grace, and walked away. I followed after her, my own light, fluttering steps hardly sounding against the floor as we walked down the hallway.

Finally, we came to the kitchen. "Do you want me to cook dinner?" I asked. She smiled again. This time, it was a warm smile. Almost a grin. "Not by yourself! Come on! Let's get started, shall we?" I nodded enthusiastically as we started preparing several dishes.

Big sister was smiling most of the time. I smiled back, but I felt a little uncomfortable. It was weird having her so warm and friendly. It felt like it was an entirely new person. One who didn't have the ability to destroy me at anytime she pleased.

"There. This one's done. Will you hand me a glass? I'll pour some juice." I nodded and handed her a glass. As she poured the juice into it, I decided to break the silence.  
"This is...This is the first time you've asked me to help you make food…" I said quietly. There was no response.  
"I…I-is there something wrong?"

I swallowed hard. I knew I wasn't supposed to ask questions like this. Finally, she turned around and smiled at me, warm and friendly again.  
"Of course not! I just thought that it'd be nice to have a meal together for once. I should formally introduce you to our new guests. Now help me bring all this out to the dining table."

As we did that, my other sister wandered in. "Dinner? Together? That's unexpected." She crossed her arms as she raised an eyebrow. I smiled at her.  
"Big Sister said that we're going to have an actual meal with our guests!" I was excited for this!

"North, you're so energetic! Do me a favor you two. Get nine more chairs out here, okay?" I nodded, and my sister and I went into the kitchen to grab the chairs.  
"This is weird." She said as she frowned.

I smiled. "You're so suspicious all the time! This will be nice, just us and our guests! What's there to worry about?" Sister frowned.  
"I finished most of the figures, and finished securing everything down, but I feel like she's gonna snap at me any minute." She looked towards me. "She isn't really planning on having all of our guests up here for dinner, is she? Seems sketchy to me."

I giggled and dismissed this comment with a small wave of my hand.  
"You're so critical, South!" We brought the chairs back to the dining room where we found Big Sister setting the table with placemats, silverware and napkins. There were only twelve spots.  
"Why only twelve?" South eyed her suspiciously. I wanted to nudge her for being so direct. "Because, there will only be twelve of us tonight." She wasn't warm and friendly anymore.

I felt saddened by this news. "I thought… I thought all of them would eat with us…?" I asked quietly, hearing the disappointment in my voice.  
She shook her head. "I am not in the mood to put up with a certain guest over dinner." She said, her voice filled with venom. The venom turned into sunshine as she smiled, warm and friendly again.  
"South, go and retrieve our guests. The nine of them. Not…Well…you know." She rolled her eyes.

South glanced at me, her pale blue eyes full of suspicion and worry, and left the room to follow her orders. I turned back to Big Sister.  
"Should I bring him his food?"  
I wanted to see what condition they were all in now.

"No. Sit." She commanded as she sat at the head of the table. I took a seat to her right, and fiddled with my napkin as I waited for South to return.

* * *

"Enjoying the food?" She asked in a warm tone as she stabbed a piece of her Chicken Milano and put it in her mouth.

Our guests didn't seem to be. They were all frowning at their plates. Occasionally, Greece or South Korea would glance around the room, as if trying to make sense of it all. Cuba clenched his hand into a fist as he glanced at the other guests. Sitting across from him, Liechtenstein had a tear rolling down her cheek. I wondered how much she liked the food. Why would she hate it though? It was delicious!  
I glanced at the small girl. She looked much too innocent to be an actual nation.  
But I had learned recently that looks can be deceiving. Especially when it came to Nations.

Barely any of them had touched their plates though, or spoken a single word. There was a long silence, before South broke the silence.  
"I finished the figures."  
The head of the table smiled coolly. "Good." She took a bite of her salad and frowned.  
"Aren't you going to eat Cuba? You look hungry." She said calmly.

Cuba smacked his hand down on the table, causing the more frightened countries to jump.

"No, I'm not going to eat any of your damn food!" He roared, causing Liechtenstein to tremble in fear.  
Egypt, who was sitting beside her, patted her hand in comfort.  
"Now stop acting so friendly, and tell me why the hell you attacked us, then captured us, just to have dinner with us?!" He was angry.

I flinched, waiting for Big Sister to lash out at him, but to my surprise, she just frowned and shook her head.

"Eat, or you won't get anything. North and I worked tirelessly on this meal."

They all seemed to get the message, and picked up their forks to eat. After a while, I turned to the head of the table and smiled.

"Thank you for my reward, by the way. I really enjoyed cooking w-"

"Silly! That's not your reward! That's just part of it!" She smiled warmly again. I was starting to get used to her mood swings. But I still couldn't get used to the lines forming around her face and the dark circles under her eyes.

"It's not?" I blinked as she laughed.  
"Of course not! You can have the rest of your reward after dinner."

I smiled and looked back at our guests.

Denmark looked pale, while Netherlands sat stiffly in his chair, his eyes darting around the room. I wondered if his sister had the same serious look that he always did.

"What's wrong? Don't you like the food?" I asked one of our guests. He blinked in surprise and coward backwards into his chair more. No response. "It's a special recipe. We got it from a cookbook." I said happily.  
"I couldn't read any of the words though, they were written in…Spanish, I think…" I thought for a minute.  
"No, maybe Italian?" I wished I hadn't said that though, because one of the guests dropped a fork and began to quietly sob.

"I love Italian food." Big Sister said suddenly. "It's delicious, isn't it?"

The rest of our meal was in silence. Finally, she told South and me to clean up the table while she escorted our guests back to their rooms. After South and I had finished doing the dishes, clearing off the table and putting back the chairs, Big Sister returned.

Something was different. South obviously noticed, but it took me a while to notice it myself. She wasn't tired anymore. The small lines at the corners of her eyes and around her mouth had disappeared, and the dark circles were gone.  
Once again, she looked flawlessly beautiful. I felt the usual pang of jealousy, but stood up straight, ready to receive the rest of my reward.

"Bring that tray of food and follow me, North." She said simply.  
I nodded, and carefully picked up the tray left on the kitchen counter and began to follow her. I could feel South watching me.  
Why was she being so weird lately?

"Is this part of my reward?" I asked quietly as we walked down the winding stone staircase.  
As she shut the door behind us, I felt my hair start to get frizzy from the crazy amounts of moisture.  
"Yes. I've decided to let you give him some food." I started to smile, but she held up a finger in warning.

"You know the rules, North. I'm trusting that you'll stick to them."  
"I will! I promise." I said quickly. "Will he be awake?"  
She shrugged. "Probably. You can stay and talk to him for a while, but not too long, and no answers."

We reached the bottom of the stair case, and I stepped into the stone hallway.  
"I know. No answers, no promises, and no relief. Thank you!" I smiled cheerily.  
She studied me for a minute, with her usual cool/bored expression, and then brushed pass me and started down the hallway, her beautiful dress flowing out behind her as she walked with elegance.

I turned and started making my way down the stone hallway after her, passing the doors leading to the rooms of our guests on either side. The stone hallway was dimly lit as usual, so it took a while for us to walk far enough to see our destination. When we got to the narrow iron door at the end of the hallway, Big Sister took a glass from the tray I was carrying and poured a few cups of water into a nozzle by the handle. I could hear the hydraulics working as the handle slowly turned until the door opened. She pushed on the door and we stepped into the damp room and shut the door behind us.

The room itself was fairly big, with what I can only describe as the front part of a huge iron cage with a steel lock on it separating us from the other part of the room.  
The other part of the room was what the nations on the surface would call a prison. Or a dungeon. Maybe a jail?

Whatever you wanted to call it. It wasn't like the other rooms that the other nations were staying in. The prisoner inside didn't stir as we walked in. As we closed the door, the room was once again pitch black. I didn't dare move in case I bumped into someone or something and ruined all of the hard work I had done to get this reward. I heard Big Sister pull something out of her pocket, and she suddenly lit a torch on the wall behind us. These torches wouldn't fizzle out because of the moisture and water in the room.

Even though the torch cast a wide light, I could only see parts of our prisoner, as he was in the corner of his cell. For a moment, we stood silently. I wasn't really sure what we were waiting for, so I stole a glance over at Big sister. She looked bored, irritated, and impatient, yet she smiled coolly again.

"Dinner time!"  
She exclaimed as she walked forward and unlocked the lock on the iron and stepped in, gesturing for me to follow. I watched her enter the prison, waiting for our prisoner to lash out at her.

Usually, he would try and grab at her, trying to attack her with everything he had, which wasn't much to be honest. But he would still try everything in his power to try and attack, wanting freedom.

I knew it wasn't going to happen. The iron chains around his hands and feet and neck would make sure of that.

This time however, he didn't. He was sprawled out in the corner, looking very uncomfortable, but for some reason, trying to stay out of the light. I could see one of his hands faintly outlined by the light. Big Sister walked right up to him while I hung back, the smell and warmth of the food on the tray feeling so out of place in this dark, damp and cold prison. She moved into the darkness for a while, and I could hear the sounds of the chains and shackles clinking and scraping against the ground, until she moved away.

She had repositioned him, so that he was sitting on his knees, legs tucked under him, with his hands tightly behind his back.  
"There. You can go ahead and feed him. When you're done, give him this. Take it with you when you leave." She produced two objects from her seemingly endless robes, and set it on the ground beside me do I could pick it up later.  
"T-thank you!" I was so excited. I hadn't had a chance to talk to him in a while! She simply nodded and left the room, shutting the door behind her. I turned back to our prisoner and smiled.  
"I hope you're hungry. We made you a special meal!" Okay, that was stupid. Of course he was hungry.

I set the tray down in front of him and sat on my knees. He didn't look up. In fact, if the chains weren't there to support him, I think he would've fallen forward. His head dangled and he had his eyes closed as far as I could tell in the dim light. _She said he'd be awake…_ I thought sadly as I frowned. I picked up some food on a fork and held it out to him. He didn't' move.

"Come on, eat! It tastes delicious!" I tried to encourage him, but he didn't move.  
"Yes, eat. I would love to hear your opinion on our food." South was suddenly leaning up against the door of the cell, arms crossed, watching me with amusement.  
"Ack! How did you get in?!" I jumped in surprise, almost spilling the contents of the fork.

She gave me a bored look, and then nodded in the direction of a small pool of water that had been completely frozen.  
Oh. She froze the water to get herself in. I hadn't even heard the usual sound of the ice cracking.  
She was getting so fast!

"Oh. Well, can you help? I'm not sure why he doesn't want any…" I pouted. South frowned and spoke to him.  
"Eat. You're starving." No movement, no sound.  
"We made it especially for you!" I cried as I tried to put the fork in his mouth. "It's true. They spent a while cooking it. All of your favorite recipes. We had dinner with the other nations, and they ate it…" South tried again.  
I smiled at him softly.

"Yeah. I know how much you love pasta, Veneziano."

Hearing his name, he raised his head a bit.

"Here. It's fettuccini. One of your favorites, right?" I tried to feed it to him, but he wouldn't accept it.  
"Aren't you hungry?" I asked softly, feeling disappointed.  
He looked up at me. I felt his eyes look me up and down as if sizing me up. I pouted. I wanted so badly to talk to him again, for him to finish the story he had been telling me.

"No."  
He said simply and his head dropped down again. His voice was barely a whisper now, but as he said this, I didn't hear any sound of defeat or weakness. It was a sound of anger and annoyance.

South rolled her eyes. "I'm bored. I'll be in my room." She said bluntly as she stepped back onto the patch of rock hard ice, and soon disintegrated into it.  
As soon as her body had disappeared, the ice started moving like a gopher digging a tunnel under the ground with the dirt creating a small little path on top. The ice started heading towards the door, and climbed slightly up the wall and disappeared out the small space between the door and the wall with an audible crackling sound.

"Sorry. She's just being herself." I apologized as I put the fork down and tried feeding him a bit of chicken.  
"Come on, Veneziano. Have a bit. Please?"  
He looked up at me again, his dulling brown eyes narrowing, and suddenly allowed me to feed him a forkful of chicken. I smiled as I picked up a bit of pasta, waited till he was finished with what was in his mouth, and fed him a piece. I watched him savor the taste of the pasta before he spoke.

"What happened to the other nations?" He was hoarse, and I could still see the dried blood around his mouth from the last time he had yelled at Big Sister. I wasn't supposed to give him any answers, but for some reason, I felt that this was different. How would telling him the conditions of the other nations benefit him?

"They had dinner with us upstairs. They're back in their rooms now." I wish I had a different word to use.  
The other nations were locked in windowless bedrooms that were pretty comfortable, while he was locked in a cell with a small square opening in the wall near the ceiling that let a small ray of light stream in during the daytime. I knew why he was in this cell instead of a bedroom, but still. I felt bad for him.  
"A few of them were crying, but they'll be okay. She hasn't done anything to them." I said and fed him some more.

We didn't say anything for a while after that. After he was finished, I took a napkin from the tray and wet it with some water from the glass, knowing that he would never drink from the water, and dabbed at the dried blood around his mouth and on his face. He flinched slightly but didn't protest.

"Will you finish the story you were telling me last time?" I asked softly.  
He did.  
I liked this story that he was telling me. It was a love story, and a really nice one. But it had become very sad recently.

"The boy just left? Just like that?" I cried as I felt disappointment spread through me.  
"Yes. Would you like me to continue?" I nodded so he kept going. I felt bad for making him strain his weak voice so much, but I couldn't help it.  
"The young maid was very sad. She spent everyday after that in the mansion waiting for her prince to come back. But he never did."  
I pouted.  
"Eventually, she grew up and left the mansion, and went on her own journey. She expanded her own nation and worked with her family to take back her home." He stopped. "The End."  
I blinked. "Did the young knight ever come back?" I asked quietly, dreading the answer.  
Surprisingly enough, Veneziano smiled slightly.  
"That's debatable."

I sighed at this and then remembered what Big Sister had told me.  
"Oh! This is for you."  
I moved over to where she had left the objects and brought them over to him. A sketchpad and a pencil. He stared at it as I moved to loosen the chains so he could pick them up.  
As he tested the pencil's weight in his hand, he glared at me.

"I don't want art materials. I want my medication."

I shied away. "She said you can't have it. I know y-"  
"I don't care what she said!" He snapped suddenly. I had gotten used to this. "Give me my pills now before I-"  
"I don't know where they are!" I countered fearfully.

He tensed and glared at me, his large brown eyes full of rage, his face twisted into an angry scowl, before he sighed and shut his eyes again, trying desperately to calm himself down.

"V-veneziano?" I whispered cautiously. It was unlike him to be so calm all of a sudden. He looked up at me, his eyes still closed in that weird way where he could see without opening them.  
"I'm going to draw something now, but I need something else."  
"What is it?" _No promises…_I reminded myself.  
"I'll draw a portrait of you again IF you do something for me." My eyes widened. The last portrait he drew of me had been so life-like and beautiful. I had hung it up in my room and promised to frame it later. I loved his drawings. They were absolutely amazing.

"W-what is it?"  
"Forget about the pills." He started sketching, and I desperately wanted to see what it was he was putting on paper.  
"Forget…about…" He seemed to want to say something else, but his voice trailed off, lost in thought, as I watched his skillful hands move across the page. We were silent for several minutes, before he spoke again.

"North Pole..."  
He said my name thoughtfully as he stopped drawing and stared down at his work.

I looked up to his face. "Y-yes?"  
He tilted his head to the side for a minute, and then tore the paper he had sketched on off of the pad and folded it up.  
"I'll sketch you a portrait in a minute. But can I ask you to do something for me?" I stared at him for a minute.  
What could he possibly want?  
"What is it?" He looked down at his hands, frowning for a minute, before looking back up at me.

"I want to talk to your sister, South."  
"If she finds out that I gave you something, anything, she'll hurt you again." I reminded him. He shrugged.  
"She's already tortured me in every way I can think of. A little more will be fine. I'm used to it. I stared at him for a minute, and then slowly nodded.

"Okay, I'll try and bring my sister down here without her finding out. But don't call her South. She prefers Antarctica."


	17. Enter Vatican City

**My internet has been sick for a few days... :(**

**Anyway, here's chapter 17! So before you start reading, I must bore you with other things first.**

**Firstly, I'm sorry about the length, I really am. Sorry.**

**Secondly, (DISCLAIMER)I want to apologize and say that I honestly have no clue what the Vatican looks like from the inside. I'm pretty sure and fully aware that my description of it here is really off, and probably makes NO sense. I've never been to Italy (much less the Vatican) so I honestly have no clue of what any of this stuff looks like, other than what my good friend Google tells me.**

**Thirdly, I have another question for you. How does everyone feel about the wording of the accents for specific characters. For example, all of Japan's 'L's are replaced with 'R's. France's 'the's are 'zhe's. I started to write sentences said by Italians like this; "Hi. Nice to-a meet you. Do you-a like-a pasta?" With the 'a's as suffixes, but I dropped it because I knew it looked kinda weird. What do you think?**

**Lastly,sorry if I get in trouble for including President Obama and Wolf Blitzer. (I don't own them.) But if a bunch of FBI agents start questioning me, I'd like to point out that in this story, I've made Canada a victim, and yet I'M CANADIAN. Geez...**

**That's it for now I believe!**

**Enjoy chapter 17!**

**-Luvlani88**

* * *

"Well, now that we've made introductions, let's head in, shall we?" The stranger who was apparently named Vatican smiled pleasantly at the group of nations as he started to walk towards the entrance to the Vatican. He suddenly stopped and frowned turning to look back at the group.  
"...I'm sorry, but weren't there supposed to be more of you?" He asked quizzically.

Vatican had a strong Italian accent, but luckily he was fluent in English. He had bangs that he kept at bay by parting his hair to the left and smoothing it back behind his ears. His frameless glasses perched on the edge of his nose, making him look old and wise to the other nations. The green eyes hidden behind these glasses were pleasant enough, but Russia, who had been staring intently at the man, wondered if there was more to him then what he let on.

Germany pursed his lips and scrutinized this man called Vatican.  
_Is this man really the Vatican?_ He thought. He didn't know much about the Vatican City, (or anything Catholic to be honest) but it did seem rather strange. _Why is there a personification of the Vatican City? Is there a difference between the Vatican personification and the Vatican City entirely? _ The questions kept coming, and he was starting to feel frustrated from the lack of answers. _Why did Romano send the Vatican to collect us? Does the Vatican have something to do with all this? _ Finally, the big question formed.

_Why is Romano in the Vatican if it's not part of his country? _

Germany glanced over at France, who caught his eye. "_Why is Romano in the Vatican?" _He mouthed to the Frenchman.  
France had known Italy for a long time, so he had to know the answer to at least part of the question. France stared back at Germany for a minute, mulling thoughts over in his head, before the answer hit him. He started to mouth something back, but gave up and shook his head, signaling he would explain what he knew later if the answer wasn't given.

"Yes, there are supposed to be more of us." Belarus snapped at him, obviously frustrated and angry.  
Vatican blinked. "Why don't we go inside and you can have a chance to explain the situation over a meal." He smiled politely again, and gestured for the nations to follow him.

Several yards later, they passed through the entrance to the Vatican City, and gasped. It was almost the exact reaction they had when they entered Italy. Pure amazement. The Vatican City was beautifully crafted, and caused some of the countries to hold their breaths in awe.

"_Kaunis…" _Finland whispered under his breath.  
"This way please." Vatican led the group of personifications to Saint Peter's Square, and once they went around the magnificent fountain and up a grand set of stairs, the nations found themselves at the Entrance to the Vatican. The large grand set of double doors left everyone in shock at the incredible artistry.

"Welcome to the Vatican." Vatican smiled at the group before signaling two guards to open the doors. As they opened, the group went in. Even inside was amazing. Vatican turned to the group and gestured around.

"This is the main lobby. As you can probably guess, the entire 'city' is made up of several buildings, all shapes and sizes." He smiled. "This is what we call the _Bascilia_, but I understand that none of you are fluent in Italian, so you may call it the Main Building."

_How does he know we can't speak Italian? _America tried to mask his quizzical expression.  
Vatican continued. "We have over 100 guest rooms available for our visitors, so please make yourselves comfortable. I will show you the area with the guest rooms, and of course you can arrange yourselves however you please. When you are finished, I will escort you to the main dining room for a well deserved meal. _Signor _Romano will meet you there for dinner." He explained.  
"I assume you would like an area of guest rooms that are private and close together…?"  
He looked at Germany for confirmation. _Does he think I'm in charge or something? _Germany thought.

Nevertheless, Germany looked around at the others for confirmation. They all nodded in agreement.  
"Uh…Yes please." He said with uncertainty.  
Vatican smiled and nodded. "I will give you a grouping of rooms together. I assume you would rather share bedrooms in stead of sleeping on your own…?" Again, everyone agreed, so Vatican gestured for the group to follow him up a grand flight of stairs. They soon found themselves walking down an elegant, elaborately designed hallway with stained-glass windows.

"This is the second floor. The guest rooms are on this floor." Vatican was obviously enjoying his role as a tour-guide. "The mass rooms are on the first floor, as well as the dining rooms, show rooms, and other commonly visited rooms. The second floor holds the guest rooms on the east and west sides, while _Signor Romano _and his brother's offices are on the North and South side of the third floor. You can guess which brother has which wing." He was smiling again.

Britain gave him a polite nod in understanding, but frowned as Vatican looked away. France, who had been walking behind Britain and Sealand suddenly caught up to Britain and whispered delicately into his ear.  
"Britainnique, please tell moi zhat you are memorizing zhe layout of zhis place…?" France asked hopefully.

Britain smirked. "I created Scotland Yard, France. Of course I am." He frowned again. "We passed another flight of stairs leading upwards, which means that there ARE more than two floors in this building, and maybe even more than three. How many do you think there are?" He asked.

China, Japan and Taiwan, who had been walking close to them slowed down to join the conversation.  
"We think there are at LEAST 3 floors-aru." China whispered.  
"How do you know?" Britain asked.  
Taiwan tapped her ear. "It's a little bit of what you westerners would call 'Ninja Training'. We can tell by the way the sound echoes. I'd bet there's four, maybe a fifth smaller one." She explained.  
"Tres incroyable!" France whisper shouted in amazement.

"We berive there are at reast three froors, arthough we courd see more windows from outside." Japan commented. "There are probabry arot of rooms on the froors and severar rooms that protrude from top froors."  
Sealand, who had been listening, frowned. "So you mean there are a lot of rooms, but some may not be directly connected to the building's floors?" He asked quizzically.  
China nodded. "Probably. Also, some of the bigger doors are thick, so the sound isn't as easy to hear, and we probably won't be able to hear certain rooms at all- aru." He looked around for a minute, and then turned back to the others. "This place looks and sounds like a maze, and it's designed for security, privacy and safety-aru."

"Meaning, they know we couldn't find our way around here even if we wanted to…" Britain mumbled under his breath. _What did they have to hide? _

Vatican opened a very delicately crafted bronze double door set, which led to another hallway. As the group followed him, they couldn't help but admire the detailed and beautiful paintings, and well as the view from the windows, which for some reason weren't stain glass at all. At the end of the hallway, was another set of double doors, similar to the ones they had just closed behind them.

"Here we are." Vatican said and opened a door, holding it for them as he gestured them to enter. The countries did and were amazed to find a lounge area.  
There was a huge plasma screen TV mounted on one wall with a large couch and several other chairs in front of it. There was also an office desk and chair in one corner, and a mini fridge and wine cooler in the other. This lounge area was obviously a common room, as there were eight doors that lead to eight bedrooms.

"I hope you will find this to your liking." Vatican said with a smile as the countries entered and set down their luggage. "I will escort you to dinner when you are ready. Just dial 1 on that telephone, there." He pointed to a wireless phone on the office desk, and with a chorus of thank-you and goodbyes, Vatican left, shutting the door behind him.  
The countries started to poke around their new lodging. The wall on the right side of the room had bay windows and a sliding door that lead to a balcony, overlooking some of the other buildings, and some gardens. The room was expensively and modernly furnished, which made China wonder what the other floors looked like.

"Well this is comfy." America commented as he set down his luggage.  
"And weird." Iceland added. "This place is huge, and confusing."  
"Why don't we divide ourselves into the rooms and prepare for dinner. We really should relax a bit." Hungary said.

Belgium smiled and looped her arm through Hungary's. "Why don't we share a room? We can have an all girls' room, and the men can do as they please!"  
She beamed at her idea, and looked at the other female nations in the room.  
"I like that idea. We should get away from all of the testosterone in the room." Taiwan said as she shot a look at China, who raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything.  
"Wait. Will there be fashion and gossip?!" Poland asked excitedly.  
"Yup. Want to room with us?" Ukraine smiled at the blonde nation.  
"Hell to the yes!" Poland grinned as his eyes brightened.

The girls (and Poland) took the room closest to the balcony. As Belarus opened the door, she frowned.  
"There are only four beds in each room. Can we borrow some of the others?" She asked the rest of the room. "Sealand and I will share a room to ourselves. You can have two of the beds from us." Britain replied, as him and Sealand started moving into their new room.  
In the end, Russia used his sheer size and America used his super-strength to move the beds into the desired rooms.  
Germany and Prussia also shared a room, while the Baltic States had another.  
France, America and Spain decided to become roommates, while Japan and China took a room, with Russia, Turkey and Switzerland next to them.  
The Nordics and Austria took the last room  
. Even though the numbers weren't even, everyone was comfortable, as the rooms were a decently large enough size, with enough room to store their belongings, a full bathroom, and a smaller flat screen in each.

"Zhis is awesome!" Prussia said happily when he was done putting his belongings away and flopped down on the couch in the common room.  
The other countries were finished settling down now, and everyone once again met in the common room.

"Now that we're all together without any interruptions…" Spain said. "We should have a real discussion." The others agreed.  
"Let's start from zhe beginning. Vhy is Romano in zhe Vatican?" Germany asked. "I mean, shouldn't he be living in a building zhat is actually part of his country?" He turned to France, eager for an answer, but it was Spain who spoke up.

"I've heard that Romano's grandfather, Roman Empire, owned this place before it went independent. I think that Romano and Italy own it by inheritance, or at least share it with Vatican."  
France nodded. "I've 'eard similar. We can ask Romano for the answer to zhat soon, 'owever."

"Speaking of the Vatican…" Britain, who was leaning against a wall, looked at China. "China, you said that you, Japan and Taiwan could tell by the echoing of the sounds we made that you could tell how many floors there were…?"

China nodded. "Japan, Taiwan and I were discussing it in the hallway-aru." He said "I could only hear echoes leading to what I assume to be a third floor, but Taiwan said that she could envision four or five floors in this main building alone from outside-aru." China frowned. "Like I was telling France and Britain, the doors and the furnishing make hearing echoes...well I don't want to say hard, so a better word to use would be different. I can tell that most of the rooms on the first floor are very grand though-aru." He explained.

"Wow. That's so…Ninja." America said with admiration.  
"So…you mean the only way we will be able to find our way around this gigantic place is by asking for a tour or snooping around?" Switzerland said, frustrated.  
"Most rikery." Japan replied. "But I did manage to bring some computer equipment from home." He smiled politely.  
"I bet if I can get a srable connection, I can search for a map onrine and downroad it to arr of your cerr phones wireressry."

America frowned. "I brought some equipment too. I would give you a hand, but it'd be pointless. I don't think the Vatican posts information like that anywhere, much less online." He sighed and pulled his iPhone out of his pocket. "Besides, I've been watching my phone since Spain got that text from Romano. We can't get any cell service, signal, or internet. There's definitely a cell jammer." He looked at Japan. "Why don't we bring all of our computers and stuff out here and set up on that desk after dinner?" Japan nodded in agreement.

"We should ask Romano if he can get us wireless connections." Belgium said. "I guess that just adds to the list of things we should ask him…"

There was a moment of silence, before Taiwan smiled and broke it.  
"Japan, China and I can listen around some more and we'll try and draw some sort of a map. In the mean time, I'm going to get ready for dinner." The other nations agreed and the meeting was adjourned as they went back into their rooms to prepare themselves for dinner, and the answers they would hopefully get.

* * *

An hour later, most of the nations had showered, rehydrated with water, and dressed business casual, in preparation for dinner.  
Prussia, who was sprawled across the couch in front of the TV, picked up the remote and pressed the on button. As he started scrolling through the channels, which he had originally assumed were all in Italian, he was surprised to find some other channels in different languages. The Prussian flipped through several channels, until he eventually landed on one in particular.

"…ational emergency. I'm Wolf Blitzer and this is the Situation Room." As the intro started to play, Prussia curiously scanned the bottom headliners, which were scrolling below.

There was only one sentence repeating.

"Guys! Holy crap! Get in here!" He shouted to the others, startling the other nations who were in the common room. The others came in, wondering what was going on.  
"What's going on?!" Lithuania asked as he hurried into the room.

"Get America! Hurry!" He shouted to nobody in particular.

Spain hurried back into their room and came back with a confused America, who was pulling on his dress shirt with one hand and had his glasses in the other.  
"What? What is it?" He asked as he pulled on his shirt.

"Isn't this an American channel?" Prussia asked his eyes still glued to the screen. America put his glasses on and looked at the TV.  
"Yeah, this is CNN. So?"  
"Look!" Prussia said with frustration.

"…ound empty. As of now, we have no idea where Canada or Cuba could be." Wolf Blitzer said. "President Barack Obama is about to make an announcement."

President Obama was suddenly displayed on screen in front of the white house, speaking into a microphone mounted at the podium.  
"At the moment, we do not understand the intention of this kidnapping." He said to the awaiting audience. "The FBI has stated that they believe that this situation has a connecting to the earlier attacks on these two personifications. The FBI, the government…and myself will continue to try and contact Mr. America, who at the moment, is currently out of the country on business. We will make another statement when we have successfully done so."

As he paused, the reporters and press started shouting for questions and answers. Obama gestured to one reporter off screen.  
"Mr. President, do you think that Mr. America has anything to do with the recent attacks and this new kidnapping?"

"I don't believe that Mr. America has any connection with the recent attacks, or the recent kidnapping." He paused. "I do believe however, that if America was here, he'd be doing everything in his power to assist and to assess the situation."

The broadcast cut back to Wolf Blitzer. "That was the president just making a statement. In addition to his assistance, the Canadian and Cuban governments are also conducting search parties across North America, and the Caribbean. So far, there have been no sightings."

America exhaled slowly, feeling his head pound, with an oncoming head ache.  
"America…" Hungary touched his arm.  
America shook his head. "I can't…There was so much security…How did…" His voice trailed off as he continued staring at the screen, completely in shock.  
"Amerique…It wasn't your fault…" France said.

America suddenly snapped back into reality, and started buttoning up his shirt, and made his way to the phone on the desk."Everyone finish getting ready." He said as he picked up the phone and punched in the number 1.

"We're going to talk to Romano. Now."

* * *

Ten minutes later, Vatican showed up at their door, and escorted them down a different flight of stairs.  
Japan, China and Taiwan continued listening to the echoes the sound made, while Britain attempted to memorize this new route.  
The group stayed mostly silent, although China had asked Sealand, Turkey, Finland and Poland to talk loudly now and then, so they could hear which way the sound bounced.

Soon, they arrived in what Vatican called the main dining room. It was a gigantic room, with the long polished dining table covered with a white table cloth with about 30 seats in the center.

"Wow." Estonia said as they entered.  
"Please have a seat. Dinner will be served in a moment." Vatican said.  
They all took seats around the table and once they were seated, about 20 waiters came out from two sets of swinging double doors at the back of the room, from what the nations assumed to be the kitchen. They all carried several dishes which they placed around the table for the nations to enjoy. Several waiters carried bottles of wines, champagnes, water and other Italian beverages and asked the countries which one they'd prefer. For dinner, the personifications weren't surprised to see Italian food, but they were surprised to see so much elegance and quantity. It seemed like every Italian dish was being served. Once they were all settled, Germany watched Vatican give a small prayer and then smiled to them apologetically.

"You'll have to excuse _Signor _Romano's behavior tonight. I'm sure you all know that Romano isn't the most cooperative person on earth…But…"His voice trailed off as he tried to choose his words carefully, and then gave up. "I guess I'll be blunt about it." He sighed.

"Romano's brother resigned. He's swamped with work as a result, and deeply concerned about…" His voice trailed off as he looked around the room, hoping the nations would understand.  
"About Italy?" Germany finished for him.  
Vatican blinked then smiled at him. "Oh, yes. I wasn't aware you referred to him as 'Italy', but yes. He is quite worried about him." He sat down just as the double doors that were to the entrance to the dining room opened.

Finally, Romano walked in.

He looked absolutely tired. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he was slightly pale, but he still walked in briskly, with two advisors on either side of him. He looked around at all the nations in the room, and Germany waited for him to make a snappy comment.

"Hello. Enjoying dinner?" He asked simply.  
There was a chorus of nods and words of appreciation as Germany blinked.  
Romano was being polite? As he looked closer at the Italian, he could see the weariness and exhaustion in him. That explained it.  
"Romano, I hope you realize how many questions you're going to have to answer." Austria said sharply as a waiter poured him a glass of red wine.

Romano sighed and rubbed both of his eyes. When his hands left his face, they were all surprised to see Romano's eyes opened, the dulling brown color on display.  
"Yes. I know that." He said as he took a seat at the head of the table.  
Germany watched as he asked one of the waiters for something in Italian. He looked so weary and tired, it was almost sad to watch. He wasn't bold and brash now. Now, he was tired, worried, and removed of all sarcasm.

"I'm sorry for being late. I intended to be here before you with dinner already served, but I got caught up with work…" He said as a waiter poured him a glass of water, and tore a package in half to pour the powdery contents inside the glass.  
The powder mixed with the water and it soon became slightly opaque. Germany didn't think it would be polite for him to ask what Romano was drinking.

"Speaking of work…Is Italy working too?" Finland asked as he took a bite of his salad, and wished he hadn't. Romano seemed to crumble as he asked this, his head suddenly lowering, staring down at his hands resting in his lap.  
"Not really."

Hungary blinked. "Will he be joining us for dinner?" She asked carefully.  
"No. He won't be." Romano sighed as he reached up to take a sip of his drink.

"Why not, Romano?" Germany was too frustrated and annoyed to care about being polite right now. "Ve have tons of questions for you AND for Italy! I vant to know why he isn't down here with us, explaining vhat zhe heck is going on!" His hands clenched to fists, and he glared at Romano.

The Italian looked up and stared back at Germany. It wasn't his usual disgusted and scowling glare. Germany realized that Romano looked ashamed, sad, and weak. Three words that he never used when describing him.  
"…Romano…" Germany murmured as Romano closed his eyes again and sat back in his chair.

"If you must know…" He said as he paused to take another sip of his drink. "…I wish he was eating with us too." "Where is Italy, Romano?" Germany demanded.  
"If you must know…" Romano looked around the room and sighed.  
He covered his face with his hands, willing himself not to cry.

"I have no idea where my baby brother is."

* * *

_Kaunis- _Beautiful (Finnish)

**In case you were curious...**

**Roommates!**

**-Britain, Sealand**

**-Hungary, Ukraine, Belarus, Taiwan, Belgium, Poland**

**-Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Austria**

**-Germany, Prussia**

**-France, America, Spain**

**-Russia, Turkey, Switzerland**

**-Japan, China**


	18. Truth be told

**12:47am and I'm done!**

**_Guys. This is like the answer sheet to a super hard test. _**

**_This will explain (mostly) everything._**

**_At last._**

**_Prepare for a super long back story, a lot of answers..._**

**_and prepare to have your mind BLOWN!_**

**_Enjoy :)_**

**_-luvlani88_**

* * *

"…Vhat do you mean you have no clue vhere Italy is?!"  
Germany nearly yelled at the older Italian.  
This had to be some kind of a sick joke. After his resignation, before their trip, Germany and all the other nations made several calls and sent several messages to Italy, hoping for something, anything. Nobody had received anything, but most of the nations had brushed it off as embarrassment, or Italy just feeling ashamed, and not wanting to communicate. The more and more Germany thought about it, he realized how stupid their assumption had been.  
_No…It wasn't stupid. Just incorrect. _ He thought.  
Was it stupid to think that Italy had stayed in his country after his resignation? No.  
He had to have friends and other ties in the country. Plus, it would be so difficult to slip away without the press and the media following him into a different country.  
Was it stupid to assume that Italy was with Romano, the only blood-related family member he had? No.  
In fact, part of Germany wondered if Romano was lying, and was actually keeping his brother hidden away in this place. It was big. There were bound to be secret tunnels and passageways, even secret rooms.

Was Italy really here? Was Romano lying? Germany looked closer at the Italian. No. He wasn't lying. His reaction to the questions about the whereabouts of his brother just a moment ago proved that he wasn't lying. Nobody was that great of an actor. Yes, the reaction was out of character, but after what had happened to some of the other countries, it seemed like anything was possible.

Romano blinked as Germany said this. Suddenly, part of the old, sarcastic, sassy, rude, and snappy Romano came back.  
"I mean, I have no clue where he is! Why would you just ASSUME that he was here?"  
It was Germany's turn to blink.  
"He sent a letter to us telling us to come here. You're saying zhat he isn't even in zhe country?!"

Romano seemed to flinch at this. "I…I know about the letter! But it said to bring EVERYONE! _Vaticani_ told me just before dinner that there was only 26 of you! I planned for dinner in a MUCH bigger dining room!"  
"How many of us did you think zhere was going to be?!"  
Romano stared at him. "I expected the entire world to come for a sleepover. And yet, I only see 26 countries!"

"Ahem…There were 33 of us originally…" Finland said softly.  
Romano blinked at him "What do you mean 'originally'?"  
Finland, Taiwan and Switzerland explained what had happened to each group before they had arrived. Romano paled even more, if that was possible, but didn't interrupt.

When they were done, he sat back in his chair, and shook his head. "_Oh mio dio ... Lei è ..._"  
"Romano. We want to know what's going on. No games, no lies, no secrets, no strings attached." America pressed, now frustrated.  
Romano thought for a moment, and then nodded. "I'll explain. One minute... _Mi puoi ottenere qualcosa?"  
_He turned to one of the advisers standing by the door and asked for something in Italian. The adviser nodded and hurried off.  
"If you want the full story, I have to start from the beginning." He explained. "Eat, while we're waiting for him to come back."  
The nations, obviously tense and stressed out, nodded reluctantly and resumed dinner for what seemed like another few minutes, until the advisor returned. This time, he was carrying a black leather binder, which he then handed to Romano. The nearby waiters cleared a space for Romano, and he put down the binder on the table. "Alright. I'll explain everything now. Let me start from the beginning. When I'm done, I'll answer any questions. I'm only going to say this once so pay attention." He said bluntly. The room was dead silent, as the countries sat eagerly, finally ready to hear the truth.

* * *

"It started way back when my_ Nonno_, The Roman Empire, was alive. Since he was such a powerful empire, he had many enemies. Most of them were other empires, which for the most part, he had no problem defeating in a minute. But there was one that he truly worried himself over.  
This enemy was extremely powerful. It had out-of-this-world abilities, and was made of what _Nonno's _citizens considered pure evil.  
To defeat this enemy, _Nonno_ created the _Dormire Crocifisso.  
_You know how hard and extreme it is for a nation to cause another nation to fall? Well this thing did it no problem. It took a lot of strength, willpower, motivation and desperation to use it, but it literally caused nations, empires, countries, personifications, whatever, to fall, without fail.

At first, _Nonno _tried it against other normal enemies, and it was a complete success. Until…he tried it against this new enemy. _Nonno _almost died that day. The _Dormire Crocifisso _worked wonders on regular enemies, but it had a different reaction with the newer, stranger, oddly powerful, different enemy.  
The enemy fell, but didn't disappear. It put it to sleep. It became a dormant nation. A sleeping nation. The nation fell, but the personification simply fell asleep. Painfully.

Me and my brother….we were just kids back then, and _Nonno_ knew that if this weapon fell into the wrong hands, it could finish us. So he worked on it. It became stronger, more powerful. He made sure that even if it fell into the wrong hands, it wouldn't be able to make our nation fall.

And then he split it into two. One for me, and one for my brother.  
They would only work together, though. I need his half and he needs mine. They work together as one, not two. So it was still called the _Dormire Crocifisso._

After he died, Veneziano, and I hid the _Dormire Crocifisso._ We had to make sure it would be somewhere safe, to protect it. We always knew where it was though. Now though, this new enemy has awoken again. And she's obviously pissed.  
She won't stop attacking and destroying until…well… I assume until she takes over the world."

* * *

Romano stopped and looked around the room. Everyone was still silent, jaws dropped and eyes wide open. He sighed and opened the black binder, pulling out a document.  
"This is…well, I guess you could call it an itinerary." He put the single document in front of the binder. "Read it.  
" He gestured for Britain to pick it up, so he reluctantly did, and read it out loud.

"December 1st, nation closes. Countries arrive. December 15th, nation reopens." He stared at the three listed bullet points. "That's it? That's what you planned?"  
"No questions yet, remember?" Romano hushed him.

"Veneziano and I knew we had to tell the rest of the world about this new enemy, because as far as we know, there's only one way to kill her. Send her directly to the afterlife, using the _Dormire Crocifisso_.  
We figured, that since _Nonno_ is already there, he'd be able to help us out and…you know…pull her in too. When I left Spain's place to come home, he was already here, and we talked about it.  
We knew we had to be careful what we said to the public, because some of our citizens would panic. The elder ones, however, probably heard the story passed down through generations, and understood the point of closing the borderline.  
We talked about it for a while. He brought up the possibility of one of us resigning, to give the other one the excuse to close the border, but I said no right away. I knew we had to be be careful, and stick together." Romano sighed.

The other nations were still in shock. China was the first one to snap back into reality.  
"Hang on. I've been here on Earth for five-thousand years. How have I never heard of this-aru?!"  
Romano shrugged. "Even _Nonno _didn't want to talk about it."

Germany ran a hand through his hair. "So…vhat you're saying is…Italy resigned to give you an excuse to close your borders?"  
"Pretty much. At least…That's what I think…" Came the reply.  
"Vell….vhere is he now?"  
Romano crumbled again. "I don't know! When he mentioned the idea, I told him 'no' so many times…I told him…"

Romano seemed to be slipping off into a trance, but he snapped himself back.  
"I didn't expect him to. I've been searching high and low since he left. Almost all of my military personnel are out looking for him. I have secret service looking for him in the cities, agents all over the world searching, airforce and deepsea personnel in the air and underwater…" He put his head in his hands. "..But I can't find him."

"Romano, what's the reason for closing the borders anyway?" America asked. Romano looked up.  
"We wanted to get all of the nations here without making it obvious. The press is too busy focusing on the closed borders, rather than broadcasting your entry on TV for the world to see. It's pretty much just for safety, security, and to calm my paranoia." He explained. "I figured once we had everyone here, it'd be safe to open up again, and be ready to fight back."

"And zhe 15th?" Germany asked. "Vhat made you chose zhat date specifically?"  
Romano blinked at the question, and struggled to find an acceptable answer.  
"We….It's sort of a holiday for us. I needed to bring some exports in on the 15th." There. That worked.

"Vell zhen, ve should all start searching for Italy!" Prussia exclaimed. "If zhis Dormee...Dormo…Vhatever. If zhis veapon only works vhen you two are together, then ve need to find him to destroy zhis enemy!"  
"That's the other thing…" Romano said. "We both said that if one of us resigned, then that one would stay with the other one, no matter what."  
"So? Maybe he just chickened out and became too embarrassed to stick around." America said. "Who says he's really in trouble?"  
Romano glared at him, suddenly coming alive again. "I do! I can tell he's in trouble! I know he's…I know he's in trouble…" There was a moment of silence as the others processed this.  
"'ow do you know zhat 'e is in trouble?" France asked carefully.  
Once again, Romano sighed, and seemed to flinch at this question. "It's…um…_Vaticani, _will you explain?" The other nations had completely forgot that Vatican had been in the room the entire time.

"Of course." He replied and began his explanation.  
"_Signor _Romano and _Signor _Veneziano are parts of a whole, so in a way, they function as a whole. Both brothers can immediately tell when the other one is in trouble of some sort or in pain. Or really any negative thoughts and feelings, to be honest. It's like a sixth sense. For each other."

Again, the countries were at a loss for words. As they mulled all of this new information over in their heads, Britain thought this whole situation over.  
_So something HAS happened to Italy. _"Impossible…" He murmured softly, still in awe.  
America gathered his bearings and looked at Romano. "So this… 'different' enemy…It can control water, ice and wind? Crap."

Romano tilted his head. "Well, sort of. I know that with water, she has no problem, but I think controlling wind and ice is much more difficult, and it requires a lot of strength. Not something you want to experiment with in a fight."

"And…What's going to happen?" Taiwan asked. "What is this enemy's plan?" She tensed as she asked this, afraid to hear the answer.  
"I have theories, but I'm not completely sure to be honest. When _Nonno _was alive, her plan was to take out the weakest, and make way to the strongest. But now I'm starting to think that it's divide and conquer. Of course, coming into the country on FOOT, separately wasn't the smartest idea, now was it?" He asked sarcastically.

The nations seemed confused, annoyed, and maybe even slightly offended by this.  
"We didn't choose to walk in here! Italy told us that's how we where to travel-aru!" China exclaimed.

Romano looked confused. "Why? I had aircraft landings all over the country, waiting for you by air. I thought that's how he told you to travel!"  
The nations gaped at this. "You mean we where out in the wilderness for NOTHING? WHY?!" Austria looked pissed.

"Forget that. Let's go back to the other nations for a minute. This information was supposed to be given to every nation in the world, right? Well we need to tell them!" America said.  
"You can't." Vatican spoke up suddenly. "If you tell all of them that there's a very powerful enemy coming to take over the world, and that the key to saving it lies in a missing personification, there will be chaos. And that will just make it easier for her. We wanted everyone here so that we could discuss it without worrying about word leaking right away. A debriefing, if you will."

"And what's zhe name?" France asked. Romano looked at him.  
"What?"  
France rolled his eyes. "Zhe name. Of zhis enemy. You keep calling it a female, no? Tell me, you must know her name?"

Romano sighed , and looked around at the room. This was really happening again. And this time, his brother was gone, his grandfather was gone, and he had to explain the entire situation to a group of nations who may or may not have been super excited to be here. _Fratello, I miss you._ He thought as he realized the full extent of the situation. His brother wasn't just gone, he was missing and was in pain. That feeling of pain, however, was really the only thing letting Romano know that he hadn't disappeared. He was alive enough to feel pain. That was a partially good sign. Everything else, seemed horrible. The pain he was feeling from his brother's heart was horrible. Although, he had gotten used to it. He sighed. This had to be the worst day ever.  
_Wait. I've had worse._ _So has Fratello._

"Her name is Atlantis, and she plans to take over the world."

* * *

**Oh mio dio ... Lei è ... = **Oh my god...She's...(Italian)

**Mi puoi ottenere qualcosa? = **Can you get me something? (Italian)


	19. Something Fishy

**Bonjour!**

** I'm in Quebec City for a school trip! It's my last day here so me and my roomies are having an all-nighter, which means NO SLEEP! WOOT!**

**Anyway, I went on a tour earlier of the (Hope I remember the name) Saint Anne Basicilla Catholic Church, and got inspired by the art and atmosphere of the massive building. I also took the time to 'reimagine' some rooms in "my version" of the Vatican for my story, so yay!**

**You're going to have another brain explosion when you read this chapter. So yeah, try not to freak out. **

**Sorry it's so late! Next chapter will be up soon, promise!**

**I also just want to apologize to any Italians. I used google translate. Sue me.**

**ENJOY!**

**Much like every other chapter, reviews, rates, follows, favorites, anything is APPRECIATED!**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

As I closed the iron door softly behind me, I let quietly let out a sigh.  
So much work to be done and so little time to care.  
Still though, as I walked up the dim hallway, past the other rooms, I felt the usual feeling of worry cloud my head. Damn it! If she were to find out what I had just done, Atlantis would waste no time in punishing me for it.  
In fact, she might even…

No way!

I clenched my fists as I thought about it. No way am I gonna let that happen! Over my dead body.  
But still…  
As powerful as I was, she was ten times more. I had ice, but she had water.

Trivia time; which element do you think can triumph over the other? I'll give you a hint; it's definitely not mine.

I stopped at the stair case, and hesitated. What the hell was I doing?  
North Pole and Atlantis would notice my absence eventually. If I disappeared for a couple hours it'd be fine, but after a while, they'd notice.  
I adjusted my goggles and opened the door, hoping to get to my room as quickly as possible.  
I guess luck kinda hates my guts because I made it half-way before North spotted me.

"South! There you are!" She beamed happily.  
I rolled my eyes. "Don't call me that."  
I prefer Antarctica. It sounds cooler. And…Oh yeah…It's my freakin' real name!

"Big Sister wants us right away." She said, completely oblivious to my annoyance.  
I hated the way she called Atlantis "Big Sister". I'm her older sister. Maybe Atlantis was too, but at least I didn't act as her superior.  
"What does she want?"  
North shrugged. "I don't know, but I think it's super important!"  
I sighed and was about to travel as ice, hoping to get away from her for a bit, when she suddenly stopped me.

"Hey South? Why'd Italy want to talk to you?"  
Ugh. I was dreading this question.  
"Nothing. Let's go." I brushed it off, but North looked reluctant.

"South…Do you…Do you think Italy will get better? I mean, not right now, but in the future…will he?"  
I blinked and turned back to her. What was with the sudden concern? She looked genuinely worried though, which made me worry about what she was thinking, but I chose my words carefully anyway.

"First off, don't call him Italy." I said coolly. "His name's Veneziano. Secondly, I don't know." I hesitated. "Probably not, but you never know. The medication does temporarily work…Maybe…Let's just go."

She nodded, and started walking away. I walked beside her, mesmerized by the fact that she wasn't being so innocent and sweet, and was more reserved and worried.  
Weird.  
She led me to the double doors leading to the bedroom belonging to "Big Sis".  
North knocked twice on the door, before we heard Atlantis say "Enter."  
I hated the way she said that. I could picture her smirking. I hated when she was being extra devious. As we walked in, I nearly gasped as when I saw two things in the master bedroom.  
First, Atlantis was at her massive in-wall fish tank, which wouldn't have been so weird, if it weren't for the fact the yellow and blue fish-which I knew happened to be one of her favorites- was floating belly up, obviously dead.  
Okay, so one of her fish died. That only classified as 'important' in her book.  
The second reason of my surprise was probably much MUCH more important.

There was someone sitting on the king-sized, four-poster bed.

As I visually inspected him, he stared back at me, a looked of boredom with a raised, suspicious looking eyebrow meeting my look of suspicion and slight annoyance.  
"Where have you been, South?" Atlantis asked coolly, but I could tell she was pissed, just by the way she pretended to actually care about my well-being.

Thinking on my toes, I didn't hesitate in my answer.  
"I went out for a bit. Needed some fresh air." I said simply, and what I hoped was casually.  
She seemed to buy it. For now.  
"Well, I'm glad you came back when you did."

Translation? _You shouldn't have just left like that, you are going to pay for it eventually, and yes, you should be very, very afraid._

I narrowed my eyes, not taking my gaze off of the person. North seemed to be…shy? She had moved behind me, and was looking over my shoulder at the same thing I was staring intently at.  
What the heck was going on?  
"Um…What's going on?" I asked carefully, my glare still not wavering.  
Atlantis stepped back from her fish tank, and turned to face us. She had her usual look of superiority and coolness on. Oh wait, she always looked like that. But she also looked…what was that? Could that be a…happy expression? No, it was more like a proud type of look. Or maybe smug? Well whatever it was, I was sure it meant that she was one step closer to achieving her goal.

"I have a new task for all of you." She said.  
Right, because that totally explained everything.  
"Uh, okay?"  
I wasn't sure how to respond. I mean, she was aware that there was a PERSON sitting on her bed, right?  
"Come." She commanded, and started to leave the room.

North followed her immediately, but I hesitated, still eyeing him, watching as he stood up and walked over to the door. Not taking my eyes off of him, I gestured for him to go first, not wanting to turn my back on him. As I walked out the door after him, I glanced back at the now dead fish in the fish tank.  
The other fish were fine, except for that one.  
Those fish were like Atlantis' children. They were definitely spoiled.  
So why wasn't Atlantis freaking out over the loss of life? Had she been expecting it to die?

* * *

The four of us walked in silence, with Atlantis leading. My heart started to pound a little harder as I realized we were heading to the stone staircase. As walked down the staircase, I slipped my goggles on over my pale blue eyes. I'm not even sure why.  
Maybe to hide the fact that I just did something that could get me in a huge amount of trouble?

We walked down the hallway, and made our way to a certain room at the end of the hall.  
Damn it.  
My heart was racing as I tried to keep my cool. What if she had found out? I bit the inside of my cheek hard. What if this guy was here to replace me? What if I was about to be thrown in as a prisoner, like Veneziano?!

No way. I wasn't gonna let that happen. Hopefully it didn't.

Atlantis unlocked the iron door and we all stepped inside. She lit a torch, and we all looked at Veneziano, who was once again, hiding in the shadows, the parts of the room that the light didn't touch.

"Here he is." Atlantis said after a moment. I wasn't sure who she was talking to, until the new guy responded.

"Is he awake?"  
His voice was smooth and flowing like Atlantis'. Were they related somehow?  
Atlantis sighed all of a sudden. It was rare of her to seem too tired and fed up so suddenly.

"Probably. I should've warned you. He's quite…disobedient." She replied, as he took a few steps closer to the cell. Veneziano was obviously lying down, and didn't move or make any sound.

"Don't worry." He said with a smirk as he turned to face Atlantis. "I'll get him to behave."

Atlantis smiled at this, as she unlocked the lock on the iron cell. They both stepped inside.  
North and I hung back, not completely sure what we were supposed to do.

"So, here he is." This new guy said loud enough for Veneziano to hear.  
"The grandson of the great Roman Empire." I realized that he was mocking him.

"They call you Italy now, don't they? Hm…." He took a few steps closer and put his hands on his hips.  
"You really don't deserve to be called that." He said, and there was a beat of silence, as I tried to understand what he meant.  
"A real nation wouldn't have let himself be held in this cage." Oh. Right. That.

"Atlantis, will you fix his 'leash' for me?" Leash? Oh, he meant the chains.

Atlantis put her hand on the wall to her right. Suddenly, the chains around Veneziano started retracting, forcing him into what looked like a kneeling position, his arms spread out tightly.  
I still couldn't see his face, only the outline of him. His head was still hanging, as if he was unconscious.  
Was he really awake? And how did Atlantis move the chains like that, without even touching them?  
Water. Right. The chains were almost always wet. She probably just moved the water.

The new guy started pacing slowly around Veneziano.  
"You're not a nation, are you, _Italia?_" He smirked. Veneziano didn't move or show any indication of a response.  
"Of course not. You're just the Roman Empire's little pet. And now that he's gone…"  
He suddenly grabbed Veneziano's hair, yanking it hard, and forcing him to look upwards.  
He was awake. I could see him wince with pain, but not make a sound.

"…You're useless."

He let go of his hair, basically throwing his head back down. "So tell me, Italia…" He started pacing again.  
"Does your stupid brother think of you as useless?"  
There was a soft, sharp intake of breath from Veneziano at the mention of his brother. The new guy noticed and smiled wickedly.  
"Does it bother you that your brother probably has no idea where you are right now?" He unexpectedly sat on his haunches, sinking to the prisoner's level.  
"Do you think he's worried? Not knowing where his little brother is?" No response.  
"What about your dear friends?" Still nothing.

I was beginning to wonder what this guy was trying to do. Did he really think that Veneziano would suddenly start talking to him? I didn't even know his name, and I doubted Veneziano did either.

"What about the other nations, _Italia_? What about Germany? Japan? France? Britain? China? America? Russia?" He was listing nations now, trying to get a reaction from him, but there wasn't any response.

"…What about Holy Rome?"

Veneziano flinched at the name, and turned his head, trying to look away from him.  
The new guy grabbed him by his hair again, forcing him to look straight at him.  
"…Is he dead, _Italia_?" Nothing.

"…Does Romano think you're dead? Has Romano given up on you?" Another sharp intake of breath.  
Suddenly, Veneziano shifted, and lifted his head slightly to meet the eyes of his assultant.

"Mantenere il nome di mio fratello dalla tua bocca disgustoso." He whispered hoarsely in his native tongue.

That's when I was surprised to see that this new guy spoke Italian.  
"_Sei patetico. Tuo fratello è già disgustato da voi._" He said with a wicked grin.

"Andare all'inferno._"  
_ Veneziano seemed to have some sort of a come back to this, which pissed the new guy off.

He let go of Veneziano's hair and stood up, frowning and looking down at him with disgust.  
"You're pathetic." He scowled.

North shifted uncomfortably beside me. Veneziano's head went limp again. Atlantis hadn't moved and didn't seem phased by this at all. Not that I was worried. I was more confused. Who was this dude? And why did Atlantis seem to trust him so much? Where the heck did he come from and how did he know Italian? Better yet, how did Veneziano know he spoke Italian?  
He couldn't of. I brushed that off as a spur-of-the-moment thing. Veneziano's first language was Italian. Was it so surprising that in an intense "conversation" like this, he would flip back to his original language? Not really.  
But that still didn't explain why New Guy spoke Italian. Or any of the other questions I had.  
Hm.  
Atlantis had some explaining to do.  
If she bothered to at all.  
I glanced over at her, and could already see the wicked gleam in her eye. I knew that explaining her actions to me and North was the last thing on her mind.  
I sighed mentally, super tired of being so out-of-the-loop. And why were we here? To watch this random dude mentally torture Veneziano? Why was that so special? Atlantis did that pretty much every hour.

"He's…resistant." He said as he walked back to were Atlantis was.  
"I know. I hope you'll fix that for me." She smiled wickedly at him, and he smirked.  
There was a moment of silence, and I decided to break it.

"Umm…Hi. We're still here." I said awkwardly.  
If it was just Atlantis, she would glare at me for being so direct, but I think this guy was having some sort of an affect on her usual routine.

"Yes. Of course you are…" She murmured eyeing the two of us, and turned back to the new guy.

"These are the other two I was telling you about," She gestured to us. "This is North Pole and Antarctica."  
Woah. She never calls me Antarctica. It's always South. South Pole, maybe, but usually south. Who was this guy?

"N-nice to meet you." As always, North greeted him with a big (slightly cheesy) smile.  
I, on the other hand, was a little less welcoming.

"Nice to meet you, Antarctica." He smiled and held out a hand to me, which I didn't take.  
"Who are you?" I asked bluntly.  
Rude? Yes. Effective? We'll see.  
Atlantis glared at me, definitely pissed at my attitude. I wanted to retreat back to my room, and escape her angry glare, but I stood my ground.  
"Antarctica-" Atlantis was about to scold me, but the stranger cut her off.  
"It's okay." He dropped his hand and smiled pleasantly. "I bet you're surprised. I don't blame you."  
"That doesn't answer my question. Who are you?"  
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Atlantis start to smirk. The stranger smirked too, a wicked gleam in his eyes.

"Let's just say, I'm going to be Romano's worst nightmare."

* * *

**Mantenere il nome di mio fratello dalla tua bocca disgustoso =  
**Keep my brother's name out of your disgusting mouth. (Italian)

**_Sei patetico. Tuo fratello è già disgustato da voi._ **= You're pathetic. Your brother is already disgusted by you. (Italian)


	20. Connected

**Sigh...Quebec trip is over...**

**Now that I'm home though, I'm super pumped for the upcoming chapters!**

**Not much to say here, but please give me some feedback regarding format! It's easy for me to read, but is it easy for you to read?!**

**As usual, reviews, follows, favorites, anything is appreciated!**

**P.S. Next chapter...Well...Let's just say you may cry...a lot!**

* * *

"…Huh?" America was the first to speak after the initial shock. "So….It's Atlantis?...I….Huh?"  
He tried to formulate actual words into a sentence, but he felt too confused to do that.

"Yes." Romano replied simply.  
"And…She wants to take over the world…Why?" Switzerland asked.

Romano sighed.  
"I'm not entirely sure. I think it's because she wants revenge on my grandfather and his empire for…you know…putting her to sleep in the first place. But since he's gone…"  
Romano's voice trailed off for a minute, as he lost himself in thought. A moment later, he snapped back to reality.  
"…Since he's gone, I think she wants to take the revenge out on me and my brother, and take over the rest of the world while she's at it." He paused and took a sip of his drink, then continued.  
"Also, I think that she believes that she's more powerful than any nation, and so she feels it's her right to own the Earth, and all the nations on it."

"Hang on. I thought there were only personifications of countries and nations….oh and mirconations. How is there a personification of Atlantis? I don't even think Atlantis exists!" America asked again, finally able to wrap his mind around this.  
Romano pursed his lips together. "I know. It doesn't make sense. But…It's not some sort of a joke."  
He looked around the room at the other nations.  
"_Fratello_ and I…We heard and sometimes saw the damage she did when _Nonno_ was alive. It was terrible."  
He paused and looked back down at his drink.  
"_Nonno_ did his best to hide it from us…He didn't want us to be scared. It would've worked too, but…I guess we were just too curious for our own good. Eventually, _Nonno_ realized that we knew everything, but he still didn't want us to get too close to anything. I don't blame him…"  
His voice trailed off again.

Germany was silent as he processed this. America had a point; nations, countries, and some micronations were the only personifications in existence. Right?  
"How is zhat even possible…?" Germany mumbled under his breath.  
If Atlantis was an actual nation, wouldn't she have to have citizens, like the real nations, to be considered a personification?

"Alright, so it's been a person...er…woman named Atlantis this entire time. So now all we have to do is find her, and Romano can destroy her."  
Britain tried to sum up the entire situation, but Romano shook his head.

"I told you it can't just be me. It has to be me and my brother, together." He hesitated, seemingly contemplating something, until a moment later when he continued.  
"…Remember how I said that the _Dormire Crocifisso _was modified so that it wouldn't cause our own nation to fall? Well, I've been thinking about it…and…" His voice trailed off.

Vatican tapped him lightly on the arm. "What is it? What are you thinking?" Romano blinked.

"…Well…My brother is technically not a nation anymore. When _Nonno _used it, the personifications of the nations that he destroyed 'died' in a way…I guess I'm just worried that if we use the _Dormire Crocifisso _before _Fratello_ is signed in as a nation again…Maybe he'll….disappear."

There was silence in the room.  
Prussia leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, thinking hard.  
"A weapon that destroys nations, and personifications. Hm."  
"You know…" Estonia suddenly spoke up, obviously deep in thought. "…To be honest, I still find it weird that even though Prussia's no longer a nation, the personification of Prussia is still around."  
He felt awkward asking such a direct personal question, but the lack of knowledge on this subject was starting to bother him.

"We've considered zhat for a long time." Germany replied. "I think it's because _Bruder_'s nation never really 'fell', but more like merged into my own."  
Prussia smiled softly at his younger brother, a smile that was rarely, almost never seen.  
"I still believe that Germany is the reason I'm still allowed to walk this Earth."  
Germany couldn't help but return the smile.

"Wait a second. China. Prussia. Didn't you say back at the world meeting that giving up a country has been done before?" Lithuania asked the country and the ex-country.  
They both looked at each other.

"Well, I was referencing North and...and South Korea's change of power. Before they settled down, it was a huge mess-aru." China explained himself.  
Japan couldn't help but notice the way he said his brother's names, as if recalling them brought back painful memories.  
Oh wait. It did.

"I've only heard stories of it actually happening." Prussia explained. "Not switching powers like zhe Koreas, but actually giving up a nation and letting it fall."  
He paused for a minute, thinking about it.  
"I've heard stories were zhe nations fell, but zhe personifications didn't realize zhat zhey would too…until it was too late."

"So does that mean that without Romano…Italy was just willing to let his nation fall?" Russia spoke up.

There was silence.  
Germany felt himself tense at this. He was starting to feel the need to defend Italy again, as if everyone was starting to look down on him.  
_Zhen again, I guess everyone sort of always has looked down on him, in a way.  
_ He thought, remembering how many times he had had to rescue Italy from being captured. Remembering how the allies had put him in a doghouse when they captured him for a while. Remembering all of those times he would find some other countries smacking Italy on the head, just for gun. Even Bulgaria did, even though he was part of the axis at the time.  
_Even I did._ The thought came before he could stop it. _But why wouldn't I? He can't fight, he's lazy, irresponsible, overly-optimistic, annoying, and just doesn't know how to be serious._ He suddenly felt guilty, thinking all of these things about Italy, now knowing that was probably in trouble, even if they were true.

"I doubt Master Veneziano would've resigned unless he had enough faith in his brother to know that _Signor_ Romano wouldn't let their nation fall." Vatican defended him.  
Once again, Japan noticed something that no one else seemed to.

_Why does Mister Vatican call Itary-san Master, but calls Romano-san 'Signor'?_ He wondered. He almost dismissed it as an Italian custom, until he realized that Romano only called Vatican by his name, no prefixes at all. So what did that mean?

"Zhat's true. He wouldn't just let his citizens down like zhat." France nodded.  
"Speaking of citizens, a lot of mine are probably pissed." America was suddenly serious. "Romano, we need cell service, internet connection, whatever. We have to communicate, ya know?" He said, remembering the lack of connection.  
Romano nodded. "I'll arrange it after dinner if you'll follow me to my office. Um…Speaking of citizens, none of mine saw you did they?"  
Austria shook his head. "We didn't talk to anyone but the officials, and we kept our heads down. I doubt it." Romano breathed an obvious breath of relief. "_Buono._ There are so many questions from them right now. I don't want the press to know you're here. Controversy wouldn't go over too well." He took another sip of his drink, and the room continued their dinner.

After a few minutes, Japan sensed the mood lightening, with conversations heading towards more positive matters. Mostly about the atmosphere of the country. Romano politely thanked the group for their compliments, but Japan could still sense worry, fear, and several other negative emotions coming from the older Italian personification.  
_How can you brame him?_ Japan thought.

* * *

As dinner finished, and the wait staff began to clear the table, Romano stood up and gestured the nations to follow him. "Coming, _Vaticani?_" He asked. Vatican stood up.  
"I might as well. It's not very often I get so many important visitors." He said with a smile.  
Romano led the group. Germany couldn't help but notice how well Romano knew his way around. It almost seemed like proof that he did, in fact, live here.

As the group began ascending the stairs the second floor, China, Japan, Taiwan, Britain and France moved closer together so that they could have a hushed conversation.  
"So we get to see the third floor." Britain whispered loud enough for the group to hear.  
Luckily, most of the other nations were having their own conversation, which masked the sound of their own conversation well enough. However, Britain was starting to feel slightly paranoid, so he kept the volume down.

"Keep an eye out for any staircases. If you see one, we'll know that there are at least four floors. We'll rendezvous with the other nations about it later tonight when we're all back in our rooms. I'm going to snoop around our lounge and bedrooms and check for any bugs."  
"Bugs?" Taiwan asked quizzically, not understanding the terminology.  
"Listening devices. Just in case." Britain explained.

Suddenly, France frowned and shifted uncomfortably.  
"What's wrong, aru?" China asked, noticing the change in demeanor.  
France hesitated, but spoke anyway. "Sorry, I've just been thinking about zhe tiny tour zhat Vatican gave us earlier…Why so many gaps?" He said, but the others just blinked, not catching his meaning, silently asking for more explanation.

"…I mean, why were zhere so many holes in his 'tour'? He said zhat zhere were guest rooms on zhe east and west side of zhe second floor, but what about zhe north and south? And what about zhe third floor? Offices on two sides, but what about zhe other two?" He paused for a minute, thinking. "Vatican was alright with telling us where Romano and Italy's offices were, but why leave out parts of the floor plan? It seems weird zhat he tells us zhe whereabouts of the commonly visited rooms, zhe brothers' offices, and zhe guest rooms, but not zhe rest of zhe building, or the other buildings. I'm wondering if it's because he doesn't consider it important for us to know, or he doesn't want us to know what else is here."  
The other nations listened carefully, and considered this.

"…If we don't find the answers…I mean…I know it's impolite and I would hate to do it unless absolutely necessary, but…we could always find out for ourselves…?" Japan suggested reluctantly.  
"Are you suggesting a little bit of espionage, good sir?" Britain smirked gleefully.  
"More of a mixture of espionage and ninja-style spying-aru." China couldn't help but smirk slightly. "Japan, Taiwan and I can take a look around. You're welcome to join, Britain-aru."  
"Let's discuss this later!" Taiwan suddenly whispered harshly.  
The group dissolved, fading back into the crowd.

Romano led the group up to the second floor, and up another flight of stairs, to the third. It was similar to the second floor; dark red carpet, elaborate paintings and tapestry on the walls, but there were more regular windows as well as fewer stained-glass ones. Britain tried to memorize the layout of this new floor, but it was difficult. There were tons of corridors, hallways, and doors, and he soon started feeling like he was trapped in a maze.  
_How the bloody hell would we ever be able to find our way back without a guide?_  
He thought, until a realization suddenly hit him, and sent a shiver down his spine.  
_Maybe that's their intention._

Finally, Romano and the nations stopped in front of another grand set of double doors, made of a dark wood, with large gleaming golden handles. Two officials posted at either side of the doors both pulled the doors open, and the group was led in to Romano's office. They stepped onto the white carpet of the big room and looked around.

To the left was a large mahogany desk, with an office chair, two chairs in front of it, and two expensive-looking computers on it. It was also covered in piles of paperwork, presumably from the new role of personification that Romano had no choice but to take on. Behind it, was a row of large bookcases that took up the entire wall. On the right-side, another similar book case took up the entire right wall, but there was a smaller single-seat leather arm-chair placed near it, with a modern-looking reading lamp beside it. In the center of the room were three leather couches, one with its back to the desk, one with its back to the right side of the room, and one with its back to the back wall, which the countries were surprised to see was all clear-glass windows, with a beautiful view of some gardens, and the Vatican city further outwards. In the center of the three couches was a relatively large coffee table. The entire office seemed slightly out of place, compared to the rest of what they had seen of the building. While the Vatican was old, historic, and looked very…holy, Romano's office was modern and new.

"Have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable." He said.  
The polite version of Romano was starting to bother Germany.  
"Thanks. So…Can we get some connection now?" America asked impatiently.  
"Yeah, sure." Romano replied, and sat down at his desk.  
He typed for moment on one of the computers, and then suddenly frowned. "…Hm. That's weird…" He murmured, and began typing and clicking again.  
"What's wrong?" Russia asked, slightly creepy as usual. Romano didn't seem phased by it though.  
"…My computer is…" He paused for a moment, staring at something on the screen.

A loud static sound suddenly filled the room; as if someone was changing the station on an old radio, as the countries flinched. A few put their hands over their ears.

"Vhat's going on?!" Germany yelled over the sound.  
Romano got out of his chair and let Vatican sit down, who then began typing rapidly, still flinching at the loud sound. "Someone's hacked into our network!" He called out over the sound.  
"What?!" Romano exclaimed in shock, his hands flying up to cover his ears.  
Luckily, the sound suddenly ceased, and the nations breathed a small sigh of relief.  
"What was that?!" Switzerland asked with annoyance.

"Look. Someone, or something, has hacked into the network and accessed _Signor_ Romano's computer."  
Vatican explained as he continued typing.  
All of the countries crowded around the computer screen, which was filled with scrolling, glowing green characters on a black-background.  
"What? How?" Romano asked nobody in particular.  
"I don't know. I can't even…Wait. It's…I think it's trying to…send us a message!" Vatican exclaimed.  
"Intercept it! It could be a virus!" America said.  
"…No it's a…" Vatican paused for a minute. "…Video chat?"

A window suddenly popped up on the screen, just as Romano felt a tremor come from his chest. Something was wrong with his brother.

"_Ciao, _Romano. How was dinner?" A voice came from the sender, the words flowing smoothly.  
"What the…" Hungary frowned at the screen.  
"Who are you?" Switzerland asked.

The person speaking was a male. He seemed to be standing in some sort of a stone room, with pools of water everywhere. He was tall and muscular, roughly the same size as Germany. His hair was black, and was neatly cut with the front of it spiked up, similar to Netherlands' hair style. His eyes were a turquoise color, and looked extremely sly and mischievous. The oddest thing about him, however, was that he was wearing some kind of a security uniform; a long-sleeved black shirt with a dark blue vest covering his chest, black pants, and a heavy belt with several storage compartments on it.  
Even in the extremely dim light of the room he was in, Germany could see the outline of a gun-holster on it.

"I'm the personification of the Ring of Fire, but you can call me Trident." He said simply, as if making friends.

"…Trident? Does he, like, have some, like, connection with Atlantis?" Poland asked.  
"What the hell's going on?" Turkey asked, irritated.  
"Hey. What is that?" Iceland asked suddenly.  
"What's what?" Belgium tried to see what he was looking at.  
"That. Behind him, to the right." The countries peered closer, trying to make sense of the outline on the screen.  
"Is that a person, or an object?" Finland asked, afraid to hear the answer.  
"Person." Sweden said.  
"…It is?" Norway blinked.  
Sweden nodded. "Kneeling. Chains." He 'explained'.

The countries could identify it better now. It was a person, who was kneeling down with its head hanging, its arms held outwards by chains.

"Oh my god." Spain gasped suddenly, going pale.  
"What? What is it?" America tried to peer closer.  
Spain swallowed a lump in his throat. "…His…His hair…The…"

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything. Our little friend had been very disobedient these last few days."  
The man, apparently named Trident continued.  
"I've been trying to fix that." He smirked wider.

"…Zhe hair…?" Germany peered closer as he realized that almost everyone else had understood, and was in shock. He soon found himself paralyzed with shock as well, pale-faced, wide-eyed and short of breath. His heart sped up as the realization hit him hard, the worry spreading like fire through his veins.  
"…Zhat curl…Zhat's…Zhat's…" He could barely speak, completely shattered by the realization.

"Veneziano…!" Romano whispered in horror, a hand flying up over his mouth as he stared at the limp outline of his brother.

Trident smiled demonically.

"I was just about to give him yet another lesson in obedience. Would you like to watch?"


	21. Victim starts with V

**Hello!**

**I got an IPHONE! (sorry felt the need to share that.)**

**Anyway, this chapter is in Romano's POV, which means...that it will have a few bits of swearing in it. **

**Sorry if you don't like it, but please understand that i've been trying to keep the characters IN character if you know what I mean...Blame Romano, not me!**

**Also, don't cry... *SPOILER***

**Enjoy, my lovely readers! **

**-luvlani88**

* * *

***Romano's POV***

We were dead silent. I couldn't move, couldn't think, and couldn't comprehend what I saw in front of me.  
There were two things on my computer screen; the lifeless looking figure that was my brother, and the bastard who put him there.  
Oh my god.

"…Well? Would you like to watch or not? Should I take the silence as a yes?" He asked again. My heart clenched. There had to be only one type of lesson that required _Fratello_ to be bound in chains. Before I could open my mouth to protest, the goddamn bastard spoke again.

"Well if you're going to watch, here are the rules."  
Rules? RULES?! He was treating this like it was some sort of a show! As if we had paid a ticket fee to watch my brother, my other half, get…get…Oh god, please don't let him torture my brother!

"R-rules?!" I finally managed.  
His stupid mouth smiled at me. "Yes. Rules. Three of them."  
I was three seconds away from smashing my fist through the computer screen to wrap my hands around his neck and choke him to death.

"First, other then Romano, nobody says anything. Second…" He paused, thinking about it. "Don't call him Italy. His name's Veneziano." He glanced back at _Fratello_ and frowned. "He's too worthless to be called a country."  
My hands clenched into fists, but before I could respond, he spoke again.  
"Thirdly, Romano…_Non ti azzardare a dire una sola parola a lui in italiano. Non una sola parola. Tutto ciò che si dice sarà in inglese. Capire?"_  
Oh great. This bastard spoke Italian too.  
The other nations looked at me, wanting a translation, but I didn't acknowledge it. _Vatacani_ took a blank piece of paper off of my desk and wrote down what had just been said, in English, to show them.

There was silence as this pathetic excuse for a personification stared at me.  
"_Lo capisci, Romano?_ "  
I absolutely despised the way my name sounded coming out of his mouth, almost as much as I despised him for having my brother in chains. He was waiting for a response. I took a deep breath, and forced the words out of my mouth.  
"_Mi stai chiedendo a mordere la mia lingua nativa. Perché?"_ Shit. Did this count?

Trident smiled. "I just want everyone to get a chance to hear everything."  
I felt the rage build up. "You bastard! There's nothing to be said! Get those godamn chains off of my brother and give him back to me, or god so help me I'll-"  
"Speaking of Veneziano…" He actually had the nerve to interrupt me. "One more rule."

I looked at the lifeless he even conscious? I was trembling with rage, concern, and frustration. Mostly concern. Somehow this stupid bastard had my brother.  
My other half.  
My angel.  
My main reason for not giving up when _Nonno_ died.  
My heart.  
What was he going to do to my dear Veneziano?

"No words from him, unless I permit him to speak." He grinned at Veneziano. "You know how this works."  
My brother hadn't moved, hadn't spoken, and hadn't shown any sign of acknowledgement. He hadn't shown any sign of life. Oh god.

"…Or what?!" I spat out. He didn't answer my question though. Just rolled his eyes and sighed, as if bored by this. "You know, I'm sure the other nations are grateful we're speaking in English." He looked around at the other nations.  
"Wow. The G8. It's nice to meet all of you." The bastard was changing the subject and I didn't like it.

"America. How's the economy? Still think you're the hero?" America glared at him, but once again, the bastard starting talking again before he could respond.  
"Britain! Did you actually put up with America for the entire trip to Italy? Or were you too busy still feeling depressed over the American Revolution?" Britain's expression matched America's but with a bit more shock to it.  
"Is your hair still that long France? I figured after so many years of trying to stay on top of fashion trends...Hm. Russia! How's isolation? Friendly as always, I bet. Five thousand years, huh, China?"

He paused as he stared at China. "…Too bad North Korea wasn't there for your birthday." He murmured, his eyes glinting.  
China gave a swallowed hard and looked away, glaring at his hands, fighting back tears.

He turned to Germany. I waited for a reference to WWII.  
"…Germany….I don't think I have anything to say to you…" Germany seemed almost relived. "…But I know that Veneziano probably has a lot to say. Too bad he can't say anything."

"What is the point of this?!"  
I was way too frustrated to care what he said about the other nations, but he mentioned my brother.  
If he thought I was just gonna take that no problem, than he had another thing coming.

He looked back at me and smiled. "Impatient, hm? Well, let's get on with it then."  
I watched as he took out a key from his belt, and unlocked the chains around _Fratello_'s hands, the ones we hadn't seen around his feet, and one around his neck.

Around his neck! It was like a leash! It made me sick to even…If I ever got my hands on him…

I expected Veneziano to stay kneeling, but he fell forward as the chains came undone. He was so weak, he had to rely on those stupid chains to hold him up…!  
Was he…No! He was alive! I could still feel his presence in my heart.

"Veneziano!" His name escaped my lips as he fell forward, flat on the ground, with not even an attempt to stop himself from hitting the stone floor.  
"As you can see, Romano, Veneziano just refuses to cooperate."  
Cooperate?! What would be considered "cooperation"?! He was too weak to support his own body! I still couldn't see his face.

The bastard named Trident frowned angrily.  
"Get up." He commanded. There was silence. No movement came from him.  
"Get up!" He shouted again, obviously pissed.

On one hand, I didn't want my brother to listen to this idiotic smartass, and remain where he was. But on the other hand…I was starting to imagine what he would do to Veneziano if he didn't obey.

My worst nightmares came true when he landed a kick to Veneziano's abdomen.  
It was strong enough to bring him off the ground for a moment, and then land him back on his stomach, face still unseen. There still wasn't any movement from _Fratello_.

"F-fratello…!" I whispered in horror.  
How many lessons had this bastard given him?!

"Was that Italian I heard, Romano?"  
Damn. What had I done?  
He pressed the toe of his boot to Veneziano's temple for moment, and then kicked him again.  
Straight to the head.  
Oh my god.

Veneziano rolled over again, the force of the blow knocked him on his stomach again.  
"I...I'm sorry, I…" I wasn't sure if he could even hear me, but the guilt was strong.

"I'm sure you are, Romano." The bastard was mocking me.  
"Get up, Veneziano." He was still angry. I hated the way he said my brother's name. It made me want to throw up.

"Fine. Suffer the consequences."  
Oh god. Oh god. Oh god.  
He pulled Veneziano up into a sitting position. He was limp, and I couldn't see his face properly.

"Veneziano! Oh god, Veneziano!" I felt a lump form in my throat as I blinked back tears.  
Trident held him upright with one hand on his shoulder, as he took out something from his belt.  
A small, hand-held beating stick.  
Holy crap.

As he raised the stick, preparing to attack my other half with it, Germany suddenly yelled out.  
"Don't hit him!" He protested.

I was about to say something similar, when I remembered rule number one.  
IDIOT!  
My eyes widened as I stared at that goddamn potato-eating bastard.  
His expression of horror matched mine.

"My, my, Germany. Quite angry, aren't we?" He lowered the stick and put it away.  
"I'm going to be completely honest with you; Veneziano would've been better off if you hadn't said that."  
What did he mean by that?!

"D-O-N-T-H-I-T-H-I-M."  
Was he…counting the number of letters that that blond idiot had said?  
"Ten letters. Ten seconds. You know the drill Veneziano." He said.

Suddenly, he let go of my _Fratello_ and left our viewing area, to a different part of the room. Once again, Veneziano fell forward, unable to support his own weight.  
I felt hot tears slip down my face.

Trident came back with a basin. It was wide, made of metal, and was filled with water. He placed it in front of my brother and pulled him back up to a sitting position.  
"I-I'm sorry Ita-" Germany began but America stopped him from breaking rule number two by elbowing him hard. "Ow. I-I'm sorry…V-veneziano…" He stumbled over the Italian name.

"Ten seconds. It's not even close to how long it was last time, you know…You should have no problem."  
LAST TIME?!  
How often did my brother receive these lessons?!

"Alright, ten seconds."  
He pulled my brother's head up by his hair.  
I could suddenly see the darker shades of blood on his face.  
My heart clenched and I pressed a hand over my mouth to keep myself from sobbing.

He pushed his head down in the water.

"One…Two…" He was counting.  
This son-of-a-bitch was actually counting out loud. Not even seconds. The numbers were at least three seconds apart.  
"Five…Six…"  
There wasn't any resistance from my brother. He was limp, and was basically being drowned. He was an excellent swimmer, I knew that, but this was different. This wasn't for fun.  
This was torture.  
"Eight…Nine…Ten."  
He let go of his hair, but didn't make any move to take his head out of the water.

"So, Veneziano, will you agree to my terms from now on?"  
What the hell?!  
"Will you say what I asked you to?"  
What was he talking about?!

As if by a miracle, my _Fratello_ shifted slightly.  
It wasn't very much, and his head remained in the water, but the movement was there.  
I felt a small bit of hope form inside of me.

Trident suddenly grabbed him roughly by the hair and yanked him up out of the water.  
He coughed.  
Oh my god, he coughed!  
He was coughing up water! Oh my god!

When he was done, I could finally here him breathing. It was a painful, desperate pant, but he was breathing.

"No."

He spoke. It was barely a whisper, a harsh, horrible sounding, rough sound, but it was there.  
_Fratello_. _You're so brave._ I thought, unable to speak as I felt more and more tears fall down my face.

Trident raised a hand and slapped him hard across the face, his face twisted in rage. "Yes, you will!"  
He pulled another object out.

A knife.

My heart sped up, my fists clenched.  
"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" I screamed.  
I was begging. Begging for my brother not to be hurt by this sick piece of shit named Trident.  
He had already suffered enough.  
He didn't need any more scars.

"Tell them, Veneziano. Tell them!" He kicked the basin of water away with his foot and grabbed one of _Fratello_'s arms, pulling it above my brother, holding his arm up by the hand.  
And then, he did one of the most sickening things in the world.  
He placed the knife on Veneziano's wrist. The tip of it was at one side of his wrist, as if preparing to cut a line straight across.  
I started mentally praying.

Veneziano emitted a small whimper of protest. "_N-non di nuovo ... per favore…"_

My breath caught in my throat as he started begging. My brother was begging for mercy. And I could feel the fear in his heart. Not all of it, not even how it felt, but just the presence of the fear.  
I was horrified.

"Start with Japan."  
What?! When Veneziano shook his head slightly, protesting, Trident tightened his grip, pressed the knife down harder, and kicked him roughly in the back.  
"START WITH JAPAN!" He roared.  
Japan went pale, the horror completely paralyzing him, eyes wide, mouth agape, as he watched.  
There was a moment of quiet, and I could hear Veneziano whimpering. There were tears falling from his face.

"Y-your…Your military is a disgrace."

Japan's eyes widened, but he didn't dare speak.  
"Now Germany."  
Why, God, why was he doing this?!

When Veneziano didn't say anything, Trident pulled the knife a quarter of the way across his wrist, causing my brother to cry out in pain.  
The pain was strong.  
I watched in horror, choking back sobs, as a line of red appeared on his fragile wrist. He was trembling in pain.

"W-World War Two was y-your fault!" He cried, desperate to escape the pain.

Trident smirked, his stupid face looking almost gleeful.  
"And lastly, Romano." He said.  
Oh my god.  
A million swear words came to mind, and I hurled a few out at Trident, feeling the rage building up inside me.

"Well, Veneziano? Are you going to tell your brother what you have to say?"  
Oh god.  
Veneziano was sobbing from the pain now, each labored breath felt like a knife to my heart.

He shook his head. Trident pulled the knife half way across my brother's wrist.  
A sob escaped my lips.  
"No."  
Why was he protesting?!

"Veneziano! J-just tell me, _Fratello_, please!" I begged him, but he shook his head again.  
He was crying. We both were.  
"I-I can't!" He said between sobs.  
"Just tell me, you idiot! Please! Please don't hurt him!" I begged, feeling all dignity and pride leave me.  
I didn't care. I just couldn't stand to watch my brother be tortured by this bastard.  
"I…I won't!" He shook his head.

Suddenly, Trident grabbed him by the hair and wretched him forward. I could see his face a bit clearer now.  
His eyes were closed, but one of them was swollen from an earlier blow to the eye.  
There were cuts and bruises all over him. Long cuts, short cuts, and lots of blood.

"Oh god, Veneziano! Just tell me, please! I can't just sit here and watch him do this to you! Please, just tell me!" I cried between sobs.  
He shook his head again, still sobbing.

"Fine. Suffer the consequences." Trident mumbled before he did something that I know will haunt me in my nightmares for the rest of my life. I would never be able to forget what happened next, no matter how hard I tried.

He plunged the knife into Veneziano's chest.

Time stood still.  
We both stopped breathing.  
We both stopped sobbing.  
I couldn't breathe as I watched Trident remove his hand, leaving the knife in my brother's chest.

"Tell him." Trident growled.  
He used his now free hand to tilt Veneziano's chin up, forcing him to look straight at me. He was dazed, and was slipping out of consciousness.  
Finally, my other half spoke.

"I hate you, Romano."

"_Signor Romano, un messaggio appena arrivato per voi. Il messaggero ha detto che è da tuo fratello!"_

* * *

_(All translations are Italian)_

**_Non ti azzardare a dire una sola parola a lui in italiano. Non una sola parola. Tutto ciò che si dice sarà in inglese. Capire?"_**_ = Don't you dare say a word to him in Italian. Not a single word. Anything you say will be in English. Understand? _

**_Lo capisci?_**_ = Do you understand?_

**_Mi stai chiedendo a mordere la mia lingua nativa. Perché?_** = You're asking me to bite my native tongue. Why?

**_Signor Romano, un messaggio appena arrivato per voi. Il messaggero ha detto che è da tuo fratello!  
=_**Mister Romano, a message has arrived for you. The mesenger said it is from your brother!


	22. Fratello

**Hiya :)**

**It's been a week, but I've finally gotten over my writer's block! So here's a chapter for you!**

**My graduation is tonight! (I'm going to high school next year!) So maybe that's why I'm all fired up? Who knows. I finished this chapter last night at around...3:45am...but I was too lazy to edit it last night, so I did it today. Here it is, and I hope it's still easy to read and not confusing, etc.**

** The first 'section' is in Britain's POV, but it...let's just say it switches later on... ;) **

**(only the FIRST section is Britain's. Don't get confused.)**

**GAH! THE REVIEWS! THANK YOU SO MUCH! **

**Have an amazing day :)**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

***Britain's POV***

For the first time, the bloody git named Trident seemed surprised.  
No, it was more like surprise mixed with shock.  
As the Italian official, whom I assumed was an adviser, burst into the room, the bloke onscreen blinked, almost startled by the room's new inhabitant.  
Was he…caught off guard?  
Why?

I was suddenly aware of Sealand shifting. I had had the good sense to turn him around and press him against me, covering his ears with my hands. I didn't want him to see or hear what horrible things were happening. Fortunately, he didn't argue. In fact, he almost seemed to want to get away from it all.  
Poor thing.

The adviser started speaking in rapid Italian. Well, actually it was more like shouting. The nations who couldn't understand Italian (that obviously meant all of us except for Vatican and Romano) looked around at each other. Some nations had tears in their eyes and down their faces.  
Hungary was sobbing silently, pressing a hand firmly to her mouth, her eyes red from crying in horror.  
Austria was subconsciously rubbing her arm in an attempt to console her, but the confused and horrified expression and rapid blinking rate said that he was shocked himself.  
America seemed fine, other than an expression that I can only describe as a mixture of anger, disgust and horror.  
I glanced over at France, out of curiosity, and wished I hadn't. He was shocked too; his eyes red and tears forming at them. His breathing was shallow and uneven as he stared at the screen. I had never seen France looking so horrified in all my years.

Trident looked almost horrified as well, until his shocked expression changed into an angry one. The screen went blank. I could've sworn I heard everyone breathe a sigh of relief, glad that the horrible image was gone from the computer monitor. Seeing that no one made any indication of a response, the Italian adviser strode briskly into the room.  
"_Signor Vaticani, signor Romano, prego! È necessario vedere questo_!" He exclaimed in Italian. Now that other nations were starting to snap back to reality, it seemed he would be heard out.  
_"... un ... un messaggio?"_ Thankfully, Vatican looked up. He was pale, and he seemed to have a bit of trouble catching his breath, but I was confident that he was fully aware of what was going on. Vatican stood up from the chair and started having a rushed conversation with the Italian adviser.  
"What….What's going on?" Iceland blinked, recovering from the shock.  
The Italian adviser and Vatican stopped talking and turned back to us.

"Someone delivered a message to the Capital Building in Rome. They said it was from Master Veneziano." Vatican explained, obviously dazed by the overload of information.

"Who delivered it? And how do you know it's really from Italy?" I asked, letting go of Sealand, only to find that he was still holding on to me lightly, nervous from so much energy.  
Vatican shook his head in disbelief. "W-we have the messenger in custody. As for the note…well…" His voice trailed off.  
"…Well, what?!" Germany suddenly exclaimed. He was pale too, and I swear I could see actual tears in his eyes.  
"Is it from Italy or not?!" He demanded.  
"…It's…It's signed by Master Veneziano. The security team checked, and it's definitely not forged. It's actually from Romano's brother…" His voice trailed off as we all became more aware of the older Italian.

Romano seemed to be frozen. He didn't acknowledge the adviser, Vatican, or any of our stares.  
What the devil had happened to him?  
"…Romano?" Spain touched his shoulder gently.  
There wasn't a sound, not a motion, nothing. His face was devoid of all emotion, only the left-over tears and tear-stains were lingering on his cheeks. His eyes were closed.  
"R-Romano…Did you hear what Vatican said?" Spain tried again.  
Spain himself was just recovering from the horror that had filled the computer-screen minutes ago, and yet he was capable of…well…getting a grip I suppose.  
His hand still on Romano's shoulder, he shook the older Italian gently.  
Still nothing.  
"Vhat's vrong with him?" Prussia poked him in the ribcage suddenly, obviously not as affected by the previous events as the rest of us were.  
"I…I think he's in shock…?" Taiwan said softly, dabbing carefully at her eyes. "J-japan? Can you …uh…?" She looked like she wanted to say more, but Japan seemed to not hear her. "…Japan?" She tried again.  
Japan snapped back to reality, giving his head a firm shake and taking a deep breath. "_Hai._ Let him sit."  
I didn't question the slight edge Japan had to his tone of voice. He was reeling from this, too.

Spain took Romano by the hand carefully and began to lead him to the couch. Surprisingly enough, Romano allowed himself to be lead, although he looked rather robotic as he moved, as if he wasn't quite…there in the head, if you know what I mean. He still had no expression, his eyes still closed in that abnormal way.

Spain put Romano in the middle of the couch, while he and Japan sat on either side of him. Some of the other nations gathered around, some of us hung back. I took the opportunity to sit down, pulling Sealand onto my lap and gathering him up in my arms. He didn't protest, just wrapped his arms around my neck, his head in the crook of my neck as we watched in silence.

Japan studied Romano for a moment, shook his head with a worried expression, and then tried again.  
"I'm very sorry…It's hard to sense his mood with such a negative atmosphere…Ret me see…" He said softly, inspecting Romano again.

Why was I starting to get chills down my back as I watched Romano's expression carefully? Maybe it was just the after effects of…what we had seen…? I was glad I didn't let Sealand witness any of it.

"…Mr. Vatican, prease try talking to him again…" Japan looked up at Vatican who nodded, still quite pale.  
"In English, or…"  
"Try Italian." Spain suggested. "It is his native language after all." Vatican nodded and stood closer to Romano. "_Signor Romano ...? Stai bene?_" He asked softly, touching Romano's shoulder.  
Nothing.  
"Well he's definitely in shock…" I murmured.  
I made a mental note to go over the conversation, or at least what everyone remembered of it. Elementary spy-observation and profiling skills would come in handy. I would have to go through it all if I hoped to find something, anything at all. I hoped everyone had gotten a good look.  
It was obviously too horrific for Romano to handle; he had completely shut down. Like a defense-mechanism. "Answer him, Romano. Can you hear me?" Spain said with concern.  
"Romano?"

* * *

_His heartbeat.  
I can hear his heart beating.  
I can still sense his heart beating. He's okay._  
_The pain from my fresh wound fades away slowly as I tune out everything else.  
This feeling. I have to focus on his presence.  
A sharp stab of pain as Trident pulls the knife roughly out of my chest.  
No…I have to focus.  
His heart.  
I have to…I have to talk to Romano…One last time…  
Romano…Romano...Roma….Rome…_

* * *

_"Romano? Romano?"  
I was vaguely aware of Spain calling my name in the background. As soon I as I thought I had heard it, it slipped away again, fading back into the silence._

_ I felt so lifeless. So dead.  
Nothing seemed to register properly.  
My mind was cloudy.  
The only thing I was truly aware of, that I knew for certain was there, was my heartbeat._

_ And Veneziano's. _

_My head was spinning. This shouldn't be happening. Veneziano's alive, so why am I being so aware of his presence all of a sudden?  
I'm always aware of him, but not like this.  
It hasn't been like this in a long time._

_ "Fratello…" _

_I feel the word come out of my mouth somehow, even though I can't feel my own body. I can't feel the hum of my throat as I say it, or the feel of my mouth moving. It's not in any language I can speak with my tongue, and yet it somehow feels like a language I know by heart. A native one.  
Some how…The calling is just released._

_ "...Fratello can you hear me?"  
"…Yes?"  
"…Why are we communicating like this again? It's been awhile…"  
"It's the only way I can think of to communicate with you."_

_"Romano, last time we did this…it was a desperate measure…"_  
_"I know. Is it the same? Desperate measures?"_  
_"…Yes. I'm in danger."_  
_"…I know. You've been hurt."_  
_"I'm no longer a nation. I don't think I have immortality anymore."_  
_"…Have you been killed?"_  
_"I don't know. But if I am dead…We wouldn't be able to communicate like this."_  
_"…Where are you?"_  
_"I'm in danger, Romano."_  
_"That doesn't answer my question."_

_"Veneziano…Where are you?"_  
_"…I'm in danger."_  
_"I know that, brother. I need to know where you are!"_  
_"I'm in danger."_  
_"Veneziano!"_  
_"I'm in danger."_  
_"Stop! I know that you're in danger. We saw what Trident did!"_  
_"No."_  
_"No?"_

_The connection is starting to get worse. It's failing. I don't have much time.  
"No. Not Trident…"  
"What do you mean? Atlantis?"_

_"Veneziano!"_  
_"I'm the North, you're the South."_  
_"…What?"_  
_"North and South. They work well togeth…"_  
_"Veneziano?!"_  
_"They're so different. One is like ice."_  
_"…Brother...Where are you?"_  
_"…One is so full of air."_  
_"…Air?"_  
_"I Lo-"_  
_"Veneziano! Can you still hear me? What are you-"_  
_"I-"_  
_"Brother!"_  
_"I love you Romano. I love you. I'm sorry. I-"_  
_He disappears._

* * *

"...I still can't get a read on his emotions…He's completely sealed himself off." Japan said.  
Britain sighed. "We need to get him out of this trance, so we can deal with this alleged message!" As he finished the sentence, Romano opened his eyes.

"Romano! Are you okay?" Spain squeezed his hand.  
Romano looked around for a minute, his head still cloudy, and his mind still not back in reality.

"…Fratello…" He whispered.  
No, this was wrong.  
He could feel the sound now, as it came out of his throat and passed his lips. Everything focused suddenly, and he realized that he was still in his office, surrounded by other nations, his senses regaining awareness.

"Romano, everything's going to be okay. We will find Itary-san." Japan said gently.  
"I…I…" Romano tried to form words but he couldn't. He could feel his heart pounding hard in his chest as he tried to regain full-control. "I...He was…I heard him…" He finally got at least part of the message out.

"…You heard him?" Vatican asked quizzically.  
"_Si…_We…Had a conversation…"  
Hearing this Germany tensed. "You…Had a conversation? HOW?!" He demanded, not quite sure if he could believe what Romano was saying.

"Its…We can…" Romano tried to explain but he was still reeling. In his current state, there was no way he could explain it, especially not in English.  
Vatican quickly made up for the lack off information. "…_Signor_ Romano and his brother can sometimes communicate telepathically in dire situations. For example, um…Well…This is a good example, I suppose."  
"Vell, vhat did he say?!" Germany pressed standing closer to Romano, towering over him.  
"Did you find out where he is?!" Finland asked.  
"Is he okay?" Hungary asked softly.  
"Give him a moment!" Spain snapped suddenly, which surprised a few nations. "Tell us what you remember, Romano." He turned back to the Italian, his tone gentle.

Romano took a deep breath.  
"He…He wanted to communicate with me…He said he's in danger. Actually, he wouldn't _stop_ saying that…" Romano closed his eyes and shook his head, trying to shake the lingering cloudiness. "H-he said that since he's no longer a nation, he doesn't have immortality anymore."  
"He can die of hunger and starvation…" France murmured thoughtfully.  
The thought of dying from lack of food was a known reason of death, but as personifications, no one had ever known what that felt like. Even when they were hungry or dehydrated, the most that could happen was that they passed out or became ill. Nations couldn't die like that.  
"Is that all he meant by immortality- aru?" China asked.

"I…I think so…He didn't mention anything about growing old…" Romano shivered. Did the absence of the mention of old age mean that Veneziano didn't plan on being alive very long? Or was it because he knew he would escape eventually? Romano wished he had had more time with his brother.  
"Then I asked if he had been killed and he said 'no'…" Romano continued. "He said that if he had been killed, we wouldn't be able to communicate. His presence would've disappeared, like…" His voice trailed off, thoughtful, but he snapped back to reality and continued.  
"…He kept saying 'I'm in danger. I'm in danger.' Until I…I mentioned Trident and….he said 'No. Not Trident'…" Romano pursed his lips together.  
"I think…I could sense that he was trying to show me something. I don't think he was answering my question, but more like trying to point me in the right direction."

"So he was trying to, like, hint at something?" Poland asked, confused.  
Romano nodded.  
"He said. 'I'm the North, you're the South. North and South. They work well together. They're so different. One is like ice…The other is so full of air.' And then… Well that's it." He said.  
He didn't want to mention the part of the conversation that had almost brought him to tears. Hearing, no, feeling his brother telling him he loved him…That he was sorry…For what though? That wasn't something he needed to share right now.

"North and South?" Norway thought.  
"Ice and Air…Hey!" America exclaimed suddenly. "Sweden, Finland, Norway, Iceland and the other's got attacked by…well…air, and you guys," he gestured to Turkey, Poland and Switzerland. "got attacked by ice, moving on the ground." He pointed out.  
"So…" Switzerland murmured, not quite understanding.

"The North Pole isn't as cold as the South Pole…" Russia suddenly spoke up.

This caused the nations to mumble in agreement.  
"…Do you think…That maybe…North and South Pole attacked them with ice and air?" Sealand spoke, only meaning for a surprised Britain to hear, but everyone listened.  
"Sealand, buddy, you're definitely on to something." America nodded. "I bet you my entire economy that there's two personifications, of the North and South Pole."

"Hang on, didn't Romano say zhat Atlantis could control ice and wind with difficulty? Maybe zhe personifications of North and South Pole were given zhose powers. Zhat's how Atlantis attacked all of you so quickly. Three heads vork better zhen one!" Prussia exclaimed suddenly.  
"Ding ding ding, we have a winner!" America said sarcastically.

The Italian adviser suddenly cleared his throat awkwardly. "Oh, yes! The message!" Vatican exclaimed, as he said something in Italian to the adviser, who then replied back.  
"Let's go. We should go to Rome. We need to see this message, and the messenger." He said, looking around the room for confirmation.  
Romano stood up suddenly. "_Vaticani,_ have an official make an announcement. We're reopening the borders."  
"Uh, _Signor…_" Vatican began, caught off guard by the sudden command. "…Wouldn't you like to do it yourself? Imagine the public's reaction…"  
Romano sighed in frustration. "I wanted to do it before we go to see this so called 'message'…Can it wait until tomorrow?"  
He turned to the adviser and said something in Italian to him. The adviser responded and Romano nodded.  
"The officials can keep the messenger in custody for another day or two." He turned back to Vatican.  
"Contact telecommunications and the media, A.S.A.P. I want to get it over with. We'll make the announcement in the East Mass Room." He said as he spun on his heel and started towards the door.

"Romano, vait! Vhat are you thinking?" Germany said before he could leave.  
Romano paused at the door and replied, not bothering to turn around. "Just trust me." He said simply as he left the room.  
The nations looked around at one another.  
"…Well alrightly then." America said to break the silence that followed. "I guess we wait until tomorrow to see the message…"

* * *

A few hours later, Romano was feeling a little déjà vu.  
He walked briskly through the hallway leading to the East Mass Room, the Head of Congregation, Vatican, and an Italian general on his sides.

Oh, and a large group of nations following behind.

A telecommunications representative went through the usual protocol, giving him an earpiece and a wireless microphone. As he approached the brass handles leading into the large room, he paused.  
"Can I ask you all a question?" He suddenly turned around to face the other nations.  
"Of course. What is it?" Britain asked.

Romano hesitated. "Well just so you know, you don't have to stay out of the view of cameras. I don't care if they see you here. Don't ask why. The thing is…" He looked around at all of the nations. "…If worse comes to worse, and we have to physically fight Atlantis and whoever's working for or with her…Will you…Would you be willing to do anything to save the world?" He asked.

There was an immediate response.  
"Hells yeah!" America said heroically.  
"Definitely." Britain nodded.  
"Oui. There's no question about it." France said.  
"We'll kill her as painfully as possible." Russia smiled.  
"I'm not just going to let her take over the world-aru." China agreed.  
"_Hai._ We'll keep the world turning." Japan bowed.  
"No doubt. Ve mustn't let her vin." Germany said, standing up straight.  
The other nations in the room agreed whole-heartedly.

"Well then…Since you're willing to fight for the world, would you be willing to fight for my brother?"

There was a moment of silence as everyone processed this.  
"Yes. Of course." Germany said immediately.  
One by one, the other nations in the room agreed, the enthusiasm high, and the concern for their own safety slowly decreasing.

Vatican smiled at all of the nations. _They're so reliable. Heroes…Every one of them. _He thought. _Master Veneziano, you and your brother have great friends around the world._

Romano thanked them, a gesture that seemed unfitting with his usual character. He turned around and pulled on the huge door knobs, the massive doors flinging wide open.  
The countries walked into the room full of reporters and security personnel. There was a lot of noise. Reporters and media personnel asking, pleading, begging for answers.  
Why were there so many personifications here?  
Why are they here if the border is closed?  
Why did Veneziano leave?  
So many questions, and so many reporters. The media always wanted something.

The nations stood off to the side of the stage as Romano and Vatican stepped on, Romano waiting patiently for the Italian general to introduce his presence.  
_Where's his speech? _Germany wondered, noticing the fact that Romano didn't have any papers with him. _Is he just going to wing it? Maybe it's not a very long announcement…?_

As he pondered this, Romano stepped up to the podium, once again addressing his country without its other half beside him.  
"Ladies and gentlemen," he began. He was speaking Italian, so the Head of Congregation took the initiative to translate quickly to the nations.  
"_I have three very important announcements to make. Firstly, the borders to Italy will be reopened, imports and exports re-established, and all tourists and visitors allowed back into the country._"  
There was a gasp, and another outburst of noise, reporters demanding more. As the room went quiet again, Romano continued.  
"_Secondly, I would like to answer a question that I'm sure all of you are wondering."_ He gestured to the other nations, at the side. "_Several other countries have joined me here today; as they, along with myself, are working together to…help me and my brother." _

Germany blinked at this. What was he doing? Talking about Italy…How would he explain the entire situation to the world? Was he just using this as a cover up for what they were really focusing on?

"My last announcement will be of the most importance, today." He suddenly switched to English, everyone seemed to be at least slightly surprised by this.  
"I'll say it in English so hopefully everyone can understand me. Especially Trident."

A murmur went through the crowd, questions beginning to fly again. The nations were surprised.  
"What the heck…?" America whispered to Lithuania who shrugged.  
Vatican suddenly grabbed Romano's arm and pulled him a step back, placing a hand over his microphone so the audience couldn't hear.

"_Signor _Romano, what are you doing?!" He exclaimed.  
"Me? I'm doing my job." Romano replied stubbornly.  
Japan realized that his mood had changed. He was now cocky, arrogant, determined, frustrated, and most of all…it seemed he was fired up.  
"You're about to make a big mistake. Revealing this to the public will cause mass panic! You're a personification, and this isn't doing your job!" He whispered harshly.  
Romano stared at him for a moment, then shook off his hand on his arm. "Not as a personification, as a brother."  
He moved away from Vatican, who was dumbfounded by this.

Romano continued with his speech.  
"Dear Trident, I want to say what I have to say to you in English, so that everyone can be a witness to it. I know you speak Italian, and god knows how such a beautiful language got on your disgusting tongue, but let's do it like this." His eyes narrowed.

"If you think you can hurt, drown, slice the wrist of my brother without consequence then I guarantee you that you have another thing coming. If you think it's funny that you made me watch you do all of those horrible things to him, then try laughing when I'm killing you.  
You want to play with fire? Fine. Let's play. Come and get me. No, actually, I DARE you to."

The nations gasped. Vatican grabbed him by the arm and spoke to him, not bothering to cover his words.  
"What are you doing?!"  
Germany found himself speaking up too. "Romano, are you crazy?! Ve don't have a strategy! You can't just initiate a fight with him like zhat! We don't know vhat he's capable of!" He exclaimed.  
Romano didn't flinch. In fact, it almost seemed like he was expecting this.  
"That coward isn't capable of drinking without a child's cup." He said loudly enough for the microphones to pick up his voice.  
"Romano, what about the safety of your citizens? He could harm them!" Ukraine suddenly spoke up as well, feeling worry and fear wash over her.

Romano turned back to the microphones, and continued. "This has nothing to do with the citizens of_ Italia_. This has to do with the fact that this bastard named Trident has my brother, and is going to get his ass kicked by me!"

"Romano!" Vatican pleaded but Romano wasn't listening.  
"Like I said, I dare you to come and get me. Anytime, anyplace! I'll be waiting with a gun, a knife, and every weapon in my arsenal. And before you get off of your disgusting ass, don't forget to bring Veneziano. I want to make sure he's there when he watches his older brother kick your sorry ass into next week."

"Romano…" Vatican backed up from the podium.  
"Not now, _Vaticani_…Can you hear me Trident? How about you, Atlantis? Can you and your little friends hear me? I'm challenging you to a game!" He mocked.

"R-romano…" Spain said as well.  
"Well Trident? If you're really so powerful, then get your pathetic butt down here! I'm dying to see you burst in the room with a gun, threatening to take my life, before I take yours!"

"R-ro-romano…!" Vatican whispered in horror.  
"What, _Vaticani_? Has that bastard finally shown up? Did he bring my brother?" Romano asked.  
He suddenly realized that the room was dead silent. The reporters and the rest of the audience were simply staring in disbelief. They were all just staring up at the stage.  
"…Turn around." Vatican said, horror, fear and disbelief filling his voice as he backed away.  
As he did, Romano heard an audible click echo through the room.  
The noise seemed pretty loud, and pretty familiar.  
Was it a…safety lock?

Romano turned around and found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

Held by his brother.

* * *

**Ah! Grad was so fun!**


	23. Exit Strategy

**I'm late, I know! So sorry!**

**It's been an eventful week for me. Yesterday (June 27th) was the last day of school for me, and everyone in my grade was crying because we're going to highschool...I've been at that school since kindergarten and it was hard to say good bye to it :(  
On the bright side= highschool!**

**Also, June 24th was my Birthday! I'm officially 14! WHOOT! Happy Birthday to MOI!**

**Anyway, this chapter is a little different.  
Please let me explain:**

**It's in Egypt's point of view.**

**"But luvlani88, Egypt's been captured!" You say.**

**Yes. Yes he has. Mwahahahaha...**

**...I feel stupid for writing this but...It's sort of a...past experience? That doesn't make sense...Sorry... -_-**

**Now...READ! :)**

* * *

***EGYPT'S POV***

When I was a child, I used to sit down with Mother outside in the mornings, and watch the sunrise. Or, if it was a nice day and she wasn't busy, we'd simply sit outside and enjoy each other's company.  
The one thing that we didn't do was talk.  
We enjoyed the silence together. In those silent moments, we would listen to the sounds coming from the gardens of the palace we lived in. She would always tell me to listen closely.  
"It takes no effort to talk," she would tell me. "But it takes strength and patience to wait and listen."  
Back then, I didn't completely understand what it meant, but I knew that it would one day be important to me. I knew that Mother's words would help me out of a difficult situation one day.  
My mother, Ancient Egypt, was very wise.  
I realized how useful her words actually were.

* * *

I woke up in a small bedroom.  
Four walls and a floor, with some sort of white drywall and cement under my feet.  
The door was some type of metal, with a sliding panel for someone to see inside, although it wasn't designed to work from the inside, meaning I couldn't see out.  
There was a hatch at the bottom of the door too, with the same type of configuration.

I had no idea what time of day it was, but for some reason, there was always light in the room. It was almost as if the walls themselves were glowing, producing enough light together to eliminate darkness.  
How strange.

There weren't any windows, or any other doors. Just a small bed, a sink, a toilet, and a small desk…and…holes? There were holes in the walls. Three of them, to be exact; one on each wall except for the wall with the door. Hmm… I peered closer to them. They were relatively small, about the size of my palm, and I could tell that the lining was indeed concrete.  
_So behind these strange walls is concrete?  
_ I pondered it, as I looked around at the strange walls. Suddenly, there was a sound, almost like a loud puff of air, and I suddenly felt myself losing consciousness. I tried to catch my self while falling, but it was no use.  
I heard and felt my body hit the ground with a loud _thud_, and I blacked out.

When I came to, there was a delicious scent in the air. It was the smell of food. I staggered to my feet and looked around, finally finding the source of the scent.  
Someone had placed a tray of food in front of the door.  
I stared at it for a minute, not fully comprehending what was in front of me, before the obvious growl of my stomach brought me back to reality.

I was hungry. There was food. It wasn't rocket science.

I walked over to the tray of food, analyzing the contents.  
_Spanakopita_ with cubed _feta_ cheese, a knife, a fork, and a napkin.  
A Greek dish?  
Hm.  
I immediately thought of Greece, who had been the first of our group to be swallowed by the ice and pushed into the ground.  
Was he alright? Why was our capturer or capturers serving Greek food?  
I had so many questions, so many suspicions, and no answers. I prodded the food for a minute before I decided that I was too hungry to complain or attempt to identify poison. So I ate, and took a minute to say thank you to the gods for this meal. A while after I was done, I heard another loud puff of air.  
_What the-  
_It was all I had time to think before I hit the ground with a _thud_ again. When I came to, the empty tray and the utensils were gone.

Mother's words came in handy.  
I was patient, and listened carefully, and I soon understood the pattern.

For every meal time, a puff of gas (chloroform?) was released from the holes in the walls. The capturers, as I had come to call the people who had kidnapped me, would listen for the _thud_ that I made, would probably open the viewing hatch at the top of the door to make sure I was unconscious, and then slide in the meal. The same would happen for cleanup.

_How is knowing this going to help me escape? _I wondered one time.

I still had no indication of time in my little cell.  
None of the meals had any resemblance to a specific time of day. I had no idea which ones were for breakfast, and which ones were for dinner.  
I slept when I felt tired, but I was starting to feel more and more drowsy when I was awake.  
Probably an after-effect of the gas. For every meal that came though, I noticed that there was always a different nationality to it.  
First a Greek dish. Then a European looking dish, from what I assumed was Liechtenstein's traditional cuisine. There was a dish that I was familiar with, and a smaller dish from Asia. Some dishes were smaller then others like snacks. Was the capturer trying to keep us fed? Was there even an _us_? Or was I the only one left?

My answer came in the form of a knock at the door. At first I froze, not understanding why someone was suddenly knocking at my door, as if I owned the room and was staying here because I chose to.

"Get up. Time to eat." The voice was rough and raspy, but obviously female.

I hesitantly stood up, not quite sure of the next course of action I would take, when suddenly, more gas was puffed in trough the holes. I covered my nose and mouth with my hand, but it was no use. I felt myself hit the floor within moments. It wasn't a total waste though, because even though everything was blurry and I felt like I was fading away, I felt the thud of footsteps coming towards me, and a blind fold being placed over my eyes. Then everything went black.

* * *

When I woke up, I found myself on a tiled floor in a hallway. I blinked away the black spots in my vision and looked around. It seemed like a regular hallway. And then I looked up.

A girl with pale blue eyes and short grey hair stared back down at me. She was wearing some sort of a fur-hooded parka with skinny jeans, combat boots, and goggles on top of her head.

Who was this girl? The person who captured me maybe?  
I was suddenly aware of the fact that I wasn't alone in the hallway.  
There were others standing up behind me, all in a line.

I looked up into the face of Netherlands. He stared back at me, a mixture of anger and frustration, but I had the feeling that the emotions weren't directed at me.

"Get up." The girl said, her rough and raspy voice startling me. I shakily got to my feet.  
How long had I been out?  
My head was swimming and my knees were pretty weak. Questions floated around in my clouded mind, and I resisted the urge to grab her by the collar and demand answers. Instead, I allowed her to lead me and the others into what I realized was a dining room. There were two other people sitting there. They were both females.

One was petite, had long white hair with a few blue highlights and big, innocent looking greyish eyes.

The other one looked much more elegant. She was taller, with long, flowing black hair that had several dark blue streaks in it, and was wearing a royal blue floor-length gown. Her eyes, a liquid greenish color, seemed extremely out of place.  
As we walked into the large dining room, those same eyes glinted as she watched us carefully.

We were gestured into the seats around the table. Now that we were all sitting, I could finally see who else was with me. Liechtenstein, who was sitting beside me, was obviously trembling. I took note of the others, and mentally counted the total. If I ever got a chance to escape, I would make sure to bring everyone with me. There was food on my plate, and the nationality couldn't have been more obvious.

It was Italian, but I didn't see Italy.  
Was he here? Maybe these three women just liked Italian food? What had happened to Italy now, anyway? I wondered if the other countries had made it.  
I really hoped they did.

"I finished the figures." The girl who had brought us in here said suddenly.  
"Good." The other girl, the one with the black hair replied, her voice seeming to flow with words in an elegant manner. She was at the head of the table, and I could tell she was obviously in charge.

_Figures?_ I thought. _What does that mean?_ I knew the statement wasn't for us, but I was curious, and still wanted answers.

The head of the table frowned suddenly. "Aren't you going to eat, Cuba? You look hungry."  
Cuba responded by hitting his hand hard against the table, causing some countries to jump.  
"No, I'm not going to eat any of your damn food!" He roared.  
Liechtenstein was obviously becoming very uneasy, so i patted her small hand, hoping to calm her down.  
"Now stop acting so friendly, and tell me why the hell you attacked us, then captured us, just to have dinner with us?!" He looked quite angry.

The mysterious girl with the long white hair flinched at this, and I could see her eyeballing the girl at the head of the table, judging her reaction?  
Was that…fear? Maybe.  
The girl with black hair obviously held the power.

"Eat, or you won't get anything. North and I worked tirelessly on this meal."  
North? Who was North? One of the other girls at the table, maybe?

Cuba seemed to get the message, and we all picked up our forks to eat.  
After a while, the girl with the long white hair turned to the head of the table and smiled.  
"Thank you for my reward, by the way. I really enjoyed cooking w-"  
"Silly! That's not your reward! That's just part of it!" The dark-haired girl cut her off.

Cooking? So the girl with long white hair was the previously mentioned North. Why was she called a direction? Maybe it was a short form for something? And what had she done to get a reward?  
I suddenly felt concern for the other nations, the ones not here at the table. If these three had captured us, what had they done to everyone else?

"It's not?" She blinked, and the dark-haired female laughed, an easy, rich sound.  
"Of course not! You can have the rest of your reward after dinner."  
North smiled and looked back at the rest of us. "What's wrong? Don't you like the food?" She asked, directing the question at Canada.  
Of course, he blinked in surprise and coward backwards, obviously terrified. No response.  
"It's a special recipe. We got it from a cookbook." She said happily. "I couldn't read any of the words though, they were written in…Spanish, I think…" North paused for a moment. "No, maybe Italian?"  
Suddenly, a fork was dropped, and I could hear Liechtenstein start to sob softly. I took her small hand in mine, and squeezed it under the table.  
"I love Italian food. It's delicious, isn't it?" The dark-haired girl spoke suddenly.

This got me thinking about Italy. Did he have some relation to these three?  
With a sickening twist of my stomach, I wondered if this meal had actually been cooked by him, and he was absent from the table because he couldn't bear the guilt of seeing us in person.

No way.

Although the more I thought about it, the more suspicious I became. Were the rest of the nations okay? Did they make it to Italy alright? Was it even safe there? And if Italy was as much a victim as we were, where was he? And why was he captured? Why were we all captured?

We ate dinner mostly in silence. When we were done, I suddenly felt light-headed. With a shock, I realized that I had somehow been drugged again. I fell unconscious before I had enough time to really process it, and woke up back in my "bedroom".

* * *

Luckily, I had a lot of time on my hands to plan my escape.

I ate another meal quickly, then carefully wiped off the knife that had come with the tray, and hid it safely in my pocket, hidden by my clothes.  
I bundled up my blankets and arranged them carefully on the bed, doing my best to arrange them to look like a figure.  
I then left the tray by the bed, and pressed myself against the wall with the door, staying closely beside the metal door, out of sight, and hoped that my plan would work.  
I pulled a corner my _keffiyeh_ to cover my mouth and nose, and then waited.  
I listened carefully, and I was sure that I could hear the faint sound of footsteps, but it could've just been the sound of my heart hammering in my chest.

Suddenly, I heard the puff of air. I pressed the cloth tighter against my nose, not daring to take a breath, for fear of my plan failing and possibly being discovered.  
A few moments later, I heard the sound of the viewing hatch opening, and then closing again. I still held my breath, but I pulled the knife out of my pocket and held it in my right hand, preparing.

The bottom hatch opened, and a tray of food was slid in as usual.  
As the hatch door started to close, I felt my heart leap to my throat, and then I lunged. The knife wedged perfectly in between the hatch and the door. The capturer or whoever was in charge of delivering meals didn't seem to notice, and a moment later, all was silent again. I stared at the knife, finally releasing my breath.

Holy crap. It worked.

I shook off the surprise and opened the hatch. From what I could see, there was a hallway. I seemed almost ancient. Across the hallway was another door, similar to mine.

_Maybe the other nations are in the same type of accommodations I am…? _

I leaned back for a second, not daring to let go of the hatch, and studied it. If I tried hard enough, I could probably squeeze through it. But could I risk getting stuck and being discovered. I thought about it for a minute, and then made my decision.  
A moment later, I was glad I had decided on it.  
I had to suck in my stomach and pray a little, but I made it through the hatch, and even had the knife in my hand.

I was free.

I looked around the hallway for a fraction of a second, taking in my surrounding, before hurrying to the door across the hallway from mine. I knocked on it lightly, afraid of being overheard by my capturer.  
"Hello? Is some on in there?" I whispered quietly, keeping my face close to the door.  
"H-hello?! Who's there?!" It was a girl's voice. Could it be…?  
"Liechtenstein?" I whispered hopefully.  
"M-mister Egypt?!" She replied.  
So it was her. Relief flooded through me.  
"Hang on. I'll get you out of there."  
I glanced at the hatch for a moment, and then pushed it carefully trying to mask the slight squeaking of the metal hinges. Liechtenstein bent down; peering outside at the hallway and me, then began to squeeze herself through. It wasn't that heard, since she was smaller.  
I held my breath though, fear and paranoia slowly coursing through me.

As soon as she was out of her room and standing in the hallway, Liechtenstein wrapped her arms around me in a hug. I blinked, surprised by the sudden gesture, but hugged her back.  
It was a weird feeling, hugging someone so small and someone I really didn't know as much as I would've liked to, but the warm feeling in her hug drew me in, and I found myself…enjoying…it…

We both pulled away suddenly, aware of the lengthy amount of time that hug actually was.  
"Ah…We have to get the others. There are probably more nations in these rooms." I whispered to her, she nodded and I gestured her to follow me.  
We went to the room beside Liechtenstein's and knocked on the door. "Hello? Is someone in there?"  
"Huh?! Oh man, yes! It's me, South Korea!"  
"It's me, Korea, it's Egypt." I replied.  
He sighed with relief.  
"I'm going to open the hatch at the bottom of the door. Do you think you can squeeze yourself out?"  
"I guess I don't really have much of a choice, huh?" He replied, doubt filling his voice.  
A few moments later though, he was standing in the hallway with us, beaming. "You guys! Oh man, I don't know how long I've been-"  
"Save it for later. We have to get the other nations." I cut him off.

I was glad I was right. The other nations _were _being held in here. We found Greece eventually. He had actually been planning an attempt similar to mine; as he found out that the sleeping gas that was pumped into the room didn't have much of an affect on him as our capturers probably hoped it would, so he was always getting two or more doses. Along with Greece, Liechtenstein, and South Korea, I found Netherlands farther down the hall, who had been trying to chip away at the walls with a piece of broken metal that he had pried off of the desk in his room. Denmark was there too, as well as Hong Kong, who had apparently spent a lot of time meditating, trying to think of a way out. He was much more sensitive to the gas.

South Korea and Hong Kong were absolutely thrilled to be together again. They were brothers after all. We freed Cuba, who told us he had been banging on the door as often as he can, trying to break it down and sometimes trying to pry it off of its hinges. He reminded us of Canada being captured, and we freed him too, still clutching his polar bear.  
"Oh, thank you so much, eh!" He said softly, obviously relieved.

"Come on. We gotta get outta here!" South Korea exclaimed quietly. We were all still afraid of being overheard by our capturers. We all looked around.  
"There's a staircase…" Netherlands murmured.

We all stared at the stone staircase at the end of the hall.  
"…What if it leads right into the dining room? What then? They'll catch us!" Denmark said softly, fear in his voice.  
"…Well there is the other option…" Greece said suddenly.  
"What's the other option?" Cuba asked curiously.  
Greece simply turned around and pointed to the other end of the hallway.

There was another door.

The lighting was dim, but I could see that the door was narrower then the others. It also looked more tightly secured, with a weird looking lock on it.  
"So…do we go up or in there?" Canada asked, looking around at us for an answer.  
"I don't know. Why would the exit be right there, near our…" My voice trailed off, but everyone got what I was trying to say.  
"I say we check it out. Quickly, of course." Hong Kong voiced his opinion. Greece nodded as well.  
The rest of us looked around at each other. Our options were pretty limited.

"Alright. Let's do it." I said finally, breaking the silence.  
"South Korea and I will go in. We have very accurate hearing, and are quick on our feet." Hong Kong said.  
"I'll go in too. It was my idea, after all. I would hate for something to happen to you because of me." Greece volunteered.  
The rest of us agreed, and decided we would keep watch. We didn't want to be discovered.

Hong Kong, Greece, and South Korea walked lightly but quickly down to the end of the hall. They stopped at the door, and I watched South Korea pull on the handle a few times, then shake his head.  
It was locked.  
Greece started to return back to us, but South Korea and Hong Kong didn't. They both pressed their ears to the door.  
"What are you doing?" Denmark whisper-shouted.  
"Trying to see if we can hear anything." Hong Kong whisper-shouted back.  
We all stayed silent for a few moments, letting them listen.  
Suddenly, South Korea straightened up and smacked the palm of his hand against the door, immediately putting his ear back to it.  
We all tensed. What was he doing? Making a sound like that could easily get us caught!

He listened for a moment before Hong Kong pulled him away, and they both came back to the rest of us.  
"We can't hear anything, and the door's locked. Let's go up." Hong Kong said.  
South Korea was silent.

We all tip-toed over to the staircase. I went up first, the others following me in single-file. The staircase twisted for a while, but finally led up to a door. I paused on the handle, looked behind me. Netherlands nodded.

I took a shaky breath and opened it slowly.

I was pretty surprised at what I saw. It was a type of living room. There were couches, a coffee table,  
a plasma-screen TV mounted on the wall…It was modernly furnished and decorated too, with mostly whites, browns, and the occasional light blue.  
_What the heck? _ I thought.  
It seemed too…homey and modern compared to the dungeon that was pretty much just a floor below. Nevertheless, I tiptoed forward, the others following closely behind me. I went into the next room, and found a room with a grand piano in the center. The opposite wall was all windows, and I blinked in surprise at the view.

Water. Were we…underwater?! What the…! So weird.

Not wanting to be discovered, we kept tip-toeing silently through the building, looking for an exit. A few rooms later, we found a pane of windows that displayed a tropical view. Like something you would find in a travel brochure advertising paradise.  
It was a beach.  
So was this an island with half a building built on it and half underwater?!  
It was a large building, and we were pretty much lost a few minutes later. All the while, we were all praying that we wouldn't be caught.

"_Where the heck is the exit?"_ Cuba whispered.  
"_I have no freaking clue!"_ Denmark responded.  
"_Look!" _Liechtenstein whispered, pointing outside.  
We peered out and my heart skipped a beat.

It was a dock. With three motor boats parked on it. Holy crap YES.

"_Oh my god!_" Denmark exclaimed quietly.  
"_Come on! We need to get to those boats. There's obviously no other escape._" Netherlands said.  
"_How though?" _Greece asked nobody in particular. We were silent for a minute, thinking, when Canada spoke up.

"_Smash the windows!" _Oh no wait that was his polar talking.  
"_…What?!" _ The real Canada looked down at the bear in his arms.  
"_It's the only way out._" The bear responded.  
I had to admit; for a stuffed animal, he was pretty good.

"_They'll hear us." _Hong Kong pressed.  
"_Do you see another option? There's no way we'll find an exit!" _South Korea shrugged helplessly.  
"_Okay…What do we smash the windows with?"_ I asked. We looked around.  
_"How 'bout a seat?"_ Cuba offered sarcastically.  
"_A what?" _ I asked, but realized a moment later what he was talking about.

There was a large leather couch in this room.  
"_Do you think that'll work?_" Greece knitted his eyebrows together.  
"_We don't have another option." _Netherlands said, and he moved behind the large couch.

The rest of us followed, giving up on finding a more sensible solution. The couch was heavy, but Netherlands and Cuba could've moved it themselves. The rest of us were there to give it more force to break the glass standing between us and freedom. "_One…two…three!" _I said and we all pushed hard, the couch skidding across the floor for a moment, before crashing loudly into the windows.  
The sound was deafening, and I knew we would be caught any minute now, but it was too late for regrets. We all jumped out the window.

Hong Kong and South Korea went first, landing with expert precision. Netherlands went next, and the three of them caught Liechtenstein. Denmark and Canada jumped as well, Canada holding on tightly to his polar bear. Cuba jumped out, then Greece and I jumped together.  
We landed on warm sand and broken glass, then took off sprinting.

The boats were modern and lucky for us, Netherlands, Denmark and Cuba knew how to drive. We all got in the three small motor boats, Denmark was about to start the engine of his, when Netherlands shouted.

"Wait! Hide!"

We ducked down, and could soon see what he meant. A few hundred feet right, we could see the girl who had taken us to the dining room, the one with the raspy voice and the parka.  
We were luckily she didn't see us.

I gasped as I realized she was skating. On water.

Somehow, the water was solidifying into ice in a perfect path for her to skate on. Twenty or so feet behind her, the path would crumble and the water would return to normal again.  
What the hell?!  
She skated very quickly, the wind blowing her hair back. It was profession and precise; like she had done it her entire life.

"She's holding a piece of paper." Liechtenstein, who was sitting beside me, spoke up.

And she was correct. In her left hand, the girl was clutching a white piece of paper. I watched as she skated further and further out into the water.  
"Follow her." Was all I said to the others, my eyes still trained on her figure.  
"What? Why?" Cuba asked. I looked back at Liechtenstein.

That piece of paper meant something. Curiosity boiled inside me. She had to be going somewhere. A mainland maybe? I explained what Liechtenstein had seen, and my thoughts on it.

"No argument here." Denmark agreed with me rather quickly. Cuba and Netherland looked at each other for a minute, and then both started their engines.  
A few moments later, we were speeding in the water, at top speed, keeping our eyes trained on the girl, who obviously couldn't hear us over the sounds of the ocean and the ice cracking.  
Lucky.  
"Any ideas on where she's going?" South Korea called out over the sound of the motors.  
"No clue. Liechtenstein did you see anything on the paper?" I responded and turned to the younger girl.  
"Yes. And I believe I know where she is headed."  
"Where? What did you see?" Denmark asked.

Liechtenstein took her eyes off of the strange girl ahead of us, and turned back to me. She seemed so much older now, much more wise, much more mature. The stress, strain, and fear of our ordeal had taken a toll on her.

"I saw a signature. I think she's going to Italy."


	24. Deadly Weapon

**Meh...I don't have much to say here...  
**

**Just wondering about the pace of the story...I don't want to end up with a billion chapters...In fact, when I first started "planning', I planned for there to be only 21 chapters. Boy did that not work out...**

**Also, because I'm just that weird, I was thinking about my take on the accents for each character. I have to admit, I'm starting to find it hard and tiresome to have to go back after wrighting a few sentences to add things like _zhe_ instead of _the, _etc. Of course, if I change this, I'll still keep China's _aru_, but i'm rethinking most of the other accents...**

**Anyway, let me know what you think about it :)**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

"_F-fratello…"_

Romano whispered under his breath, hardly able to form actual words. There were none to form, anyway.  
There were no words to sum up every emotion that racked through him at that very moment.  
No words to describe his thought process because, at the moment, he couldn't think straight.

"_F-fratello…Che cosa stai ...?" _He couldn't finish his sentence. Romano could only stare in shock at the sight of his brother holding a gun to his head.

Suddenly, a sound echoed through the room.  
Someone was clapping, a slow and deliberate applause. Footsteps accompanied them.  
"Wow. What a show!" Someone said as the two people drew closer, walking down the isle in the center of the room that led from the doors to the stage. Romano turned his head to see who it was, and immidiatly felt his heart jump.

Trident.  
He was here.  
And he had brought a friend.  
The girl's feet didn't touch the ground as she floated beside him without any effort. As if she was made of air…

North Pole!  
She was the one who was clapping and who had spoken. Trident stayed silent, his smug look directed right at Romano.  
"…W-what the hell…?!" He said as he looked at Trident and then back at his brother, who still had a gun at his head. "_Che diavolo hai fatto…?"_ He tried again. "W-What the hell have you done to my baby brother?!" He spat at Trident and North Pole, who seemed unaffected by his outburst.  
"I…I just saw him…He was being tortured and now he's…he's fine…!" It was true.  
Italy didn't have a scratch on him. His clothes were perfectly in order, and even his hair was in its usual style. He was fine.

"…No…He's not…" Germany murmured suddenly, and Trident, North Pole, Romano and Italy turned to look at him. "He…" The german searched for the right words. "…Italy wouldn't do something like zhis. He…He wouldn't do something so …violent."

"…He might." Vatican spoke up softly, still staring at the two Italian brothers.

"…No he wouldn't!" Germany countered, glaring at Vatican.  
What was he talking about?!  
"H-he wouldn't hold a gun to a someone's head, especially not his own brother's!" He turned back to Italy.  
"He's…He's been brain-washed or something!"

Trident smirked wider and shook his head. "Tsk. Tsk. Tsk. Aren't you even going to ask why he's holding a gun to Romano's head?" He was amused. He looked back to Romano. "How about you, Romano? Aren't you curious as to what he wants?"  
There was silence as Romano stared at his brother, his brother staring back at him.  
Finally, the older Italian spoke.  
"V-veneziano?" He said softy and carefully. "Why are you holding a gun to my head? Why are you here, after I just watched you be tortured by that bastard?!" He reached out suddenly, letting his fingers brush over his brother's cheek.  
"…You're so cold…!" He murmured as he caressed Veneziano's face lightly, the same face he had seen, felt and loved so many times, and for so long. Now though, it seemed different. Something was wrong, he could tell. But his skin shouldn't have been that cold. It sent chills up his spine.

Veneziano shoved the end of the gun closer to him, making him step back and remove his hand from his face.  
"Italy, vhy doesn't it bother you zhat you're holding a gun to your brother's head?!" Germany demanded suddenly, anxiety, confusion, frustration and a little fear boiling up inside of him.  
Italy suddenly moved, grabbing something from Romano with his free hand.  
Another gun.  
_Romano has been armed this entire time? Why?! _Germany thought as he watched Italy unlock the safety lock on the Italian revolver.  
He had two now. Italy turned to face Germany, his face passive and his eyes abnormally closed.  
"Go to hell."

He fired.

Germany felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and soon found himself on the ground.  
He had been shot.  
By Italy.  
Italy had shot him.  
No matter how many times he thought about it, it didn't make any sense.  
He just couldn't comprehend it.  
The pain was excruciating.  
He barely heard Prussia shout his name as he came to his aid.  
He barely felt Prussia holding him carefully, trying to stop the bleeding.  
His vision was beginning to fade.  
All he could see was Italy, standing there with a gun in each hand.  
But as the darkness started crowding his sight, Germany watched Italy blink.  
It was a small movement. He had simply opened his eyes for a fraction of a second, and then closed them shut again, but it had been enough. Germany could see it now. He could see what was truly wrong with this picture.

Italy's eyes were blue.

The audience of media personnel and the other personifications were stunned to be frank. The collective gasp the crowd made didn't even begin to describe the absolute horror, fear, panic and confusion that everyone was feeling. Romano stared at the German nation who was now on the floor. He looked back at Trident and North Pole.  
"Is this your plan?" He asked, a death glare watered down with confusion.  
"Is what our plan, Romano?" Trident asked innocently, still smug.

Romano was silent for a moment as he stared at Trident, who was, just a short while ago, torturing his brother beyond belief. That had been through a screen. Now though, Trident was actually there, in front of him, standing like a normal person. To Romano, he suddenly seemed much more breakable, now that he was right in front of him.

"…Do you plan to have my brother injure all the other nations, one by one?"  
The more Romano thought about it, the stupider he felt. The truth was, he had no idea what to expect. And that bothered him more then usual.  
"Of course not! Why would we do that?" North Pole smiled innocently.  
"You've brain washed him!"  
"Have we? Why don't you talk to him yourself?" Trident replied, looking at Veneziano now.  
Romano tried to think of a suitable comeback for this, but he soon realized that he had nothing to say to this. He turned to his brother, still with a gun to his head, still with his eyes closed.  
"_Fratello…_ _Perché si sta puntando una pistola contro di me? Cosa stai facendo? Che cosa ti hanno fatto?_"

He searched his brother's face, looking for an answer that couldn't be spoken, but his search came up empty. Veneziano levels the gun at Romano's chest, his finger tightening even more on the trigger.  
"They haven't done anything. Now let's go. We're going to your office." The Italian replied, his voice hard as steel and missing the usual warmth and glee in it. Romano frowned, trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.  
_They had to have brain-washed him_. He thought. _If Fratello wanted something he would know where to find it. What is he looking for in my office and why does he need me to go?  
_Veneziano tapped the gun on his chest and Romano put his hands up, palms outward, surrendering._  
_ "O-okay, okay! What are we going for?" He asked trying to buy time. Time for what? He didn't know.

"Italy, honey, you don't need those guns. Put zhem down and let's try to be sensible, okay?" Hungary spoke softly, trying to aid the situation.  
There were other security personnel in the room now, each with guns trained on Italy.  
"Do not shoot your own brother, Italia." France said, stepping in. "You know zhis isn't what you want to do…!" He tried taking a step towards Italy, but the Italian raised the other gun and pointed it at him.  
"Shut up."  
France put his hands up like Romano, taking another step forward anyway. "_Italia, _you know zhis isn't right. Especially not in front of your citizens." He said, gesturing to the crowd of reporters and press.  
"_France! Get back here, you git!" _France could hear Britain trying to quietly get his attention, but he ignored it.

"I have a question for you, Veneziano." Trident spoke suddenly. The whole room turned to him and North Pole. _What could he possibly have to say? He's already turned my brother into…into a mindless zombie! _Romano thought, wishing he had another gun on him.  
He would never pull the trigger on Veneziano, but a little protection wasn't such a bad idea right now.

"Veneziano, do you really care what happens to your citizens? Oh, I'm sorry. Your EX-citizens?"  
Romano wanted to slap that stupid smirk off of his face.  
Veneziano turned back to France, eyeing him up and down.  
_Italia, it's me. You know me. And I know zhat you're better zhen zhis! _France thought as he watched Italy carefully. Finally, he responded.  
"Nope."

And with that, he shot into the crowd.

"No!" Romano yelled as the first few bullets were fired. He tried to grab the weapon from his brother's hand, but Veneziano was faster, and pushed him to the ground with the other gun. The roar of people screaming filled Romano's head, and he hesitated, trying to sense any fatalities.  
There were none. No one was injured.  
Veneziano had fired simply to create fear and panic.  
And it had worked.

"Stop!" He shouted anyway.  
Strangely enough, Italy did stop firing. As the room went quieter, everyone's ears ringing, and the audience in shock, Italy grabbed Romano by his shirt collar and hauled him to his feet. Romano put his hands up again, mentally thanking God that nobody had been killed.  
"Let's go. Now." Italy said and shoved his brother forward.

"We're going to leave this up to you, Veneziano. See you soon." Trident said with a wave as him and North Pole suddenly exited.  
"Hey! I'm not done with you! Get back here!" Romano started to yell but Italy shoved him forward again, and out the side entrance of the east mass room.

* * *

America watched for a moment, making sure that Trident and North Pole were far enough away to not see them. Then, he silently nudged China.  
China glanced at Japan and Taiwan who met his eye. "_I'll be back. Take care of each other."_ He whispered in Mandarin.  
The two looked at each other, then back at China, who was already half way across the room with America. The two nations were quiet as they exited the room, looking around them.  
"_Which way did they go?" _America whispered.  
"_Over there, aru!" _China nudged him.  
North Pole and Trident were walking down the hallway, oblivious to the two nations trailing them. America and China walked carefully, not daring to make a sound as they kept their eyes on them. Suddenly, they came to a large area that looked like some type of lobby. America wondered if China and him would have to get violent, when something weird happened.  
One minute, the two were standing there.  
The next, a mysterious wind picked up and started creating a circle around the two.  
A few moments later, it became a dome that engulfed them.  
When the wind died down, they were gone.

"Damn…They're gone." America said as he straightened out this jacket. "Any idea where they went?" He asked rhetorically.  
"Not a clue. But Romano is still with Italy and they should be in his office now, aru." China responded.  
"Let's get the others and head up there."  
America shrugged. "I guess we don't really have much of an option." He said.

The two nations retraced their steps and hurried back into the East Mass Room, where they weren't surprised to see the reporters and the media being led out by security. As the room emptied out, they hurried back inside to the other nations.  
"Where's Germany?" America asked, noticing that him and Prussia were gone.  
"Some medical personnel took him to be treated and Prussia went along." Hungary said, obviously disturbed by all this.  
"Did you catch North Pole and Trident?" France asked, hoping off the stage.  
"No. North Pole did her magical wind stuff and they both disappeared." He replied.  
"Is everyone alright, aru?" China asked.  
Everyone nodded or said yes.  
"Romano and Italy are up in Romano's office." Britain said, loosening his grip on Sealand. He had shielded him from the horrors again, just like earlier, when they had watched Italy be tortured on screen.

"We need to get up there. Italy fired at his…uh…well I guess his brother's citizens. He's obviously not in the right frame of mind right now." Iceland spoke up. "Can you take us to Romano's office from here?" He asked Vatican, realizing once again, that the countries had no idea where they were going.  
"Yes. And let's hurry."

* * *

"…Do you remember when _Nonno_ taught us to swim?" Romano asked softly, as his brother pressed the gun into his back.  
"Shut up."  
The words felt like blades slicing through him, but Romano continued anyway. "We were in Venice, and _Nonno _decided to teach us how to swim by pushing us both into the main canal, over and over again." He said, smiling at the fond memory. "Eventually we learned how, and _Nonno_ was so happy at the end of the day."

Romano turned and faced his brother. "_Fratello_, what do you want from me?" He asked frowning.  
He still felt sick to his stomach, but at least now he could think more clearly.

"I want you to shut up and stop stalling."  
"What's happened to you? Did they inject you with something? Did they blackmail you? What is it?"  
"I said SHUT UP and go to your desk." Italy's finger tensed on the trigger.  
"Fine! What do you want me to get?!" Romano asked.

His eyes widened as Italy replied.

"No." He said. "No way. We agreed that-"  
"I don't care what we agreed. Just get me the damn document!" Italy snapped, pointing the gun back at Romano's head now.  
Romano stared at him for a moment, then slowly went to his desk. A few minutes later, he had unsealed the document from his computer and printed off a copy. As he picked up the sheet of paper, he paused.

"The last time I was in this room, I was watching you get tortured by Trident." He said softly.  
"Give me the paper."  
"I was so scared. And worried. And I hated him so much for making you suffer that kind of pain."  
"Give me the paper!"  
"Why do you want this document? You and I both know that if anyone were to-"  
"GIVE ME THE DAMN PAPER!"  
"No!" Italy grabbed Romano by his shirt collar again.  
"Give. Me. The. Paper."  
"No."  
"Why not?" Italy sneered.  
Romano reached up placing a hand gently on his younger brother's cheek. He was still cold, but Romano didn't care.

"…Because. You're my baby brother. I know how you-the real you- would feel if this got into the wrong hands." He said, stroking his brother's face carefully.  
They stayed like that for a moment, in silence. Veneziano seemed confused…No wait…Contemplative. He was thinking. Romano let his fingers trail over his brother's cheek and behind his ear, gently tucking a stray piece of hair in place.  
"What's happened to you, Veneziano?" Romano murmured, watching him carefully.  
Veneziano seemed like he was about to reply, but a shout interrupted him.

"Romano! Is everything-"  
Spain and the rest of the personifications had come in suddenly, but Spain stopped talking immediately when he saw the situation in front of him.  
Veneziano tensed. Romano trailed his fingers under his chin, forcing him to keep his eyes on him.  
"_Fratello,_ you know it was wrong to shoot at innocent citizens. You know it was wrong to shoot at that…Germany." He was careful not to say his usual nickname for the German. "I know this you isn't the real you, so look me in the eyes and tell me that you know it was wrong." Italy recoiled, but Romano kept him close.  
"Fine. If this really is you now, then…" He paused staring straight into his brother's face.  
"Look me in the eyes and tell me you don't love me." He whispered, feeling tears start to prick at his eyes

. Veneziano watched him carefully. His gaze darted between him, and the group of nations on the other side of the room.  
"_Fratello_, I-"  
"No."  
Romano drew in a sharp breath. "…W-what?"  
"No. I don't love you." Italy looked straight up at him, his gaze unwavering.  
Romano placed him hand back on his cheek. "That's…that's not true. You…You and I are a team, remember? We're one country, together."  
"Romano, I hate to burst your bubble, but I just don't care." Italy said sharply. The words stung, and Romano felt a tear roll down his face.  
"You can die for all I care." Italy said.

Suddenly, he grabbed Romano's hand and twisted his arm, causing him to fall face first onto his desk in an arm-hold. Italy quickly grabbed the document and quickly moved away from Romano, and from the other nations, standing beside one of the windows.  
He raised a gun and shot the glass out of the window. The nations instinctively ducked, but Italy didn't flinch. "We're not a country." He said, directing his words at Romano.  
"You're the country of Italia now. You're on your own." He said. And as Romano and the others gasped in shock, Italy took the opportunity to leave.

By jumping out of the window.

* * *

**Translations (Italian)**

**_Che cosa stai ...?_ **= What are you ...?

**Che diavolo hai fatto…? **= What the hell did you ...?

**Fratello… Perché si sta puntando una pistola contro di me? Cosa stai facendo? Che cosa ti hanno fatto? **= Brother ... Why you are pointing a gun at me? What are you doing? What have they done?


	25. Keep Your Eyes Open

**GAH! THIS IS SUCH A LONG CHAPTER I'M SO SORRY!**

**Also, I've decided to drop the "accents" except for China's aru. Don't worry though, I'll still put in an occasional foreign word for each character. (Example; "Oui, mon ami. I think that's a good idea." It's pretty obvious who that is right?)**

**I think this might be the longest chapter so far! Don't be mad at me!**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

"_Germania."_

A voice is calling me. It sounds familiar.

"_Germania."_

There it is again. Who is that?

"_Germania._"

The accent sounds Italian. I'm sure it's not Italy or Romano, but the voice sounds similar to theirs.

"_Germania."_

I call back this time, dying to know who could be calling my name.

"Who's there?"

The words don't come from my mouth, but somehow they're spoken.

"Open your eyes."

Open my eyes? How was I supposed to do that? I wasn't even…I couldn't even feel my own body. It was as if I wasn't aware of my own self. So how was I supposed to open my eyes?  
Just thinking about it seemed to trigger something. I suddenly felt a gust of wind on my face. And something was brushing against my chin, tickling me gently.

"_I want to show you something_."

I opened my eyes, and all of my senses immediately went into overdrive. The sudden onset of sound, sights, smells, and textures rushed at me all at once, and I felt dizzy. I blinked once to clear my head.

I was in a forest, lying face down in the lush grass. There was a mild breeze blowing, causing the trees to sway to and fro, and making the grass ruffle with each gust of wind.  
I was dreaming. I had to be.  
How could I be here in a forest when just a minute ago, I was in the Vatican getting shot by…I didn't want to think about it.  
Although, even if I was dreaming, it was a weird dream.  
I stood up, feeling disoriented. What was I doing here? Why would I suddenly start dreaming about a forest? And who was calling my name earlier?

A flash of something between the trees snapped me out of my thoughts.

Had I imagined that? Oh wait, it's a dream. Aren't I imagining everything? "Hello? Is someone there?" I called out hesitantly.  
_Because obviously some weird hallucination is going to engage in conversation with me. Right._ I thought sarcastically.

There it was again! A flash of…white? I was feeling uncomfortable now. The wind was starting to pick up and the trees were roaring with the wind in between their branches.  
I took a step back. As soon as I did, another flash of déjà vu came over me. Had I been here before? Where was "here" anyway?  
There was another flash of white between the trees, this time much closer to me. I took a few more steps in the same direction.  
Okay, scratch that.  
I started to walk in that direction, desperate to get away from the strange illusion. Maybe I'd come across something. Like civilization. That'd be nice, wouldn't it? Then I realized what was wrong.

It was following me.

I broke out into a run. I wasn't sure why, but something about that…flash of white just made me uneasy. And at the same time, something about its presence felt…familiar, yet dangerous. Very dangerous.  
I kept running, glancing behind me now and then. I could only hear the wind roaring now, and the sound of my heart beating painfully fast in my chest. As I glanced around again, my foot caught on a root of a tree, and I fell.  
I was in a clearing, and I immediately knew why this all felt familiar.

There was a tomato box, sitting on the grass.  
And sitting on top of it, was Italy.

He didn't seem to notice my entrance. He was sitting crossed-legged there, toying with a white flag in his hands, while his knee bounced.  
"I-Italy?!" I gasped.  
He was peering out into the forest with what I can only describe as a look of concern mixed with determination.  
"I-Italy, what are you doing here?!" I stood up.  
No reply. He just kept looking around himself, as if looking out for an enemy attack.  
Was this…anxiety? Did he have something to do with the weird white illusion in the forest?  
"Italy, what's going on? Why are you just sitting here?" I pressed again.

Finally, he looked up at me "Oh! Germany! I didn't notice you there…" He said absent-mindedly, and went back to looking around wildly.  
"Italy, what the hell is going on?!" I demanded, unable to stand it any longer. I was paranoid now, worried about what I had seen in the trees. Was that what he was so worried about? "Italy, I said-"

"You shouldn't be here." He said suddenly.  
I blinked, confused by this. "What do you mean? I don't even know how I got h-"  
I stopped as another flash of white darted between the trees. It was even closer now.

"Get behind me and stay quiet." Italy said suddenly, tensing.  
I stared at him for a minute, and then crouched down behind the box of tomatoes. I was too stunned to argue.  
I had basically landed in the same forest that I first met Italy, who was now standing up in front of the tomato box, white flag in hand, and was being stalked…chased…whatever, by something in the forest.

"What's going on?" I whispered to him.  
"It's back." He replied, not even bothering to lower his voice.  
I was afraid. I wasn't sure of what yet, but seeing Italy like this was nerve-wracking. His eyes were closed, but I could see the look of determination on his face clearly. Wait a minute…Was Italy planning to fight?  
"What's back?" I raised my head up a bit, trying to see the flash of white again.  
"_It._"  
I was surprised when Italy pretty much spat out the word. As if he was disgusted by it.  
"What is it? Is it some sort of animal?"  
"No, but it might as well be. IT'S DISGUSTING!" He yelled out the last two words as an insult to the predator in the trees.  
So he WAS disgusted by it. It had to have some sort of strength in it for it to attack, right? Then why was Italy going to fight back? Why wasn't he going to surrender, like usual? What exactly was this thing?  
"What's disgusting? What are you talking about?!" I demanded.  
The thing in the trees was closer.  
It was still moving quickly from tree to tree, but it was almost hovering near us. What the heck?  
"Germany's my friend. You can't come near him." I realized he was talking to the thing in the trees.  
Italy tensed, gripping the white flag in his hand like a make-shift sword.  
"Germany, run."  
"W-what?"  
"Run! Hurry!"  
"Why? What's going on?!"  
"Germany, please! I can't let him get near you!"  
Him?  
I stuttered for a minute, trying to come up with a response to this, when Italy yelled at me. I'm not kidding, he YELLED at me.  
"DON'T JUST SIT THERE! RUN!"

I shakily backed up a couple steps, and then ran in the opposite direction, back out into the forest. This had to be the most insane dream I've ever had.  
I kept glancing over my shoulder as I ran. It felt so weird to leave Italy like that, to fend for himself. Although he had insisted on it, I still felt guilty for just running away.  
The guilt was suddenly replaced with fear when I glanced behind me and spotted another flash of white.

It was following me.  
Crap.

I was too far away to hear or see Italy now, and I was about to run back to him, hoping that he was okay, when I realized something.  
This was a dream.  
This was all a dream.  
I was simply dreaming.  
I slowed down and stopped running. What was the point? It was only a dream. A crazy, weird, vivid, insane, frighteningly detailed, real-life-seeming dream.  
A few moments after I stopped, whatever was chasing me slowed down and eventually seemed to stop too. In fact, I would say that it stopped behind a tree a few feet in front of me, hiding in the shadows cast by other trees.

_It's just a dream. It's just a dream._ I thought as I tried to calm my heart. I had no need to be afraid. It was only a dream, and eventually I would wake up.  
"H-hello?" I spoke loudly enough so the thing behind the trees could hear me.  
I was getting annoyed with all of this. It didn't make any sense, which pissed me off. Then again…How did I know that this thing was even a person?  
"Is…Is someone there?" I sounded idiotic, but at this point, I didn't care.  
I listened carefully. There was a sound of someone or something shifting.

"I-it's you…!" A very quiet voice. So it was a person. Perfect.  
"Who are you and why are you chasing me?" I asked, a little calmer now.  
"…I…I'm glad to…I'm glad to see you."  
"Answer the question!"  
There was silence for a minute, and it occurred to me that this person might not be fluent in English.  
"I-I'm sorry. I…I wanted to talk to y-you…" It almost seemed like an apology.  
I suddenly remembered what Italy had said earlier, about it being a "him". So just who was he?

"Who are you? Why were you…Why were you _hunting _Italy earlier?"  
Obviously this person had attacked or at least intended to attack Italy before. Maybe I was under a bias, but the fact that he was an enemy of Italy didn't sit well with me.  
"…I-I'm n-not! I-I wasn't!" I couldn't take it anymore. I took a few steps toward the tree before he spoke again.

"I'm glad to see you. Really, I am. I just wish _he_ hadn't seen me…"  
He? Was he talking about Italy? What was going on?  
"Come out so I can see your face! Why are you hunting Italy?!" I demanded as I strode over to the tree. I wanted to see this guy face to face.  
"Who are y-" I stopped as I made eye contact with him, my voice catching in my throat.

The flashes of white had been from his robes, a perfectly bleached white covered with dark stains of blood.  
He was quite injured, with a bruise under his eye, a cut running from just under his left nostril, slicing through his lips, and ending just below his mouth. There were bruises, cuts and scrapes all over him and I could tell he had many more injuries under his clothes. His eyes were wide and bloodshot, his skin a sickly pale. It wasn't what he was wearing or his injuries that made me gasp.

"I'm not hunting Italy. Italy is hunting me!"

The tomato crate was nowhere in sight. I had left it far behind.

But Italy was standing right in front of me.

* * *

"Oh my god!"  
Romano exclaimed as he ran over to the now shattered window.  
The other nations ran over as well, everyone shaking off the disbelief and springing into action.  
"What the hell?! He's…" Switzerland's voice trailed off as the nations watched Italy jump down from the window, jumping from roof to roof, ledge to ledge, with incredible precision and skill. They were high up, and it was easy to tell, even in the dark of the night, that Italy wasn't planning to jump down to the ground.

"He's going somewhere. We have to follow him!" America said.  
"Let's go, aru!" China said, moving to jump out the window himself, but Vatican stopped him.  
"He's going to the garage."  
"How do you know that?" Iceland asked curiously.  
"It's in that direction and it makes perfect sense. He wants a getaway vehicle." Vatican replied.  
"Well then let's go! We can't let him get away!" America started moving to the door.

The nations were now running to the garage, with Romano and Vatican leading them to it.  
"_Signor_ Romano, what did your brother want from your office?" Vatican asked quietly.  
Romano didn't answer. He just ran faster.

As the group of personifications neared the entrance to the huge garage, they heard a sound. An engine revving. "Crap!" Romano exclaimed as he threw open the doors leading to the garage.  
Inside the garage, the other nations were surprised to see at least two dozen different vehicles, mostly sports cars and motorcycles.  
What surprised them even more, however, was the fact that Italy was now on one of these motorcycles, a helmet on his head, speeding out of the garage.

"Come on!" Romano ran over to a motorcycle, and was soon turning the key in the ignition.  
"You all go. I'll stay and start setting up connections. We'll be in touch soon." Estonia said.  
In the end, it was America, France, Russia, China, Taiwan, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland, and Vatican who climbed into two larger sports cars, and sped out of the garage, with America and Sweden at the wheels.

"We have to hurry and catch up with him. He's fast, and having a larger group doesn't help our case." Vatican said. A few moments later, the two cars and the motorcycle were speeding out of the garage, accelerating quickly to catch up to Italy.  
"_…Can you all hear me?_" Estonia had called Russia and China's cellphones, and started a three way call.  
"Yup. All of us but Romano." America said.  
"_Have you caught up to Italy yet?_"  
"Not yet. He's moving pretty fast. The motorcycles that Romano and Italy are on are definitely built for speed." Switzerland commented.

A moment later, the countries realized that they were nearing the exit and entrance of Vatican City.  
"Where's he going, anyway? " France asked nobody in particular.  
"I have no clue. But I think it's necessary to mention that he's not going to be stopped at the border from the city to Rome." Vatican said.  
"Why not? Don't you have to stop all vehicles for security, aru?" China asked, confused.  
"Normally, yes. But not only is Master Veneziano allowed to cross back and forth without problem, all of his and his brother's vehicles are registered and allowed to cross without any questions. It doesn't matter that he isn't a nation anymore. His motorcycle will be allowed to cross no matter what." Vatican explained.

"_He's right."_ Spain's voice suddenly came on. "_And to top it off, the cars you guys are driving aren't the smallest ones there."  
_"What do you mean?" Russia asked.  
"Mister Spain is correct. There are tons of smaller roads, alleyways, paths, you name it, in Rome. These cars are designed for long-term transportation, and not necessarily speed and swiftness." Vatican said.  
"So what you're saying is…" France's voice trailed off as he thought about it.  
"If we don't catch up to him on any main roads in Rome…" America was distracted by driving, and didn't finish his sentence either.  
"_Let me finish those idiots' sentences." _Britain suddenly said over the phone. _"If you lot don't catch up to him soon, you might lose him."  
_"…And if we lose him, it's all up to Romano to catch him." Taiwan said suddenly, finally understanding the weight that this situation held.

A few moments later, the countries watched as Italy drove through the entrance and exit of Vatican City, the officials simply unable to do anything to stop him. Romano drove out too, followed by both cars.

_"Be careful everyone. Italy knows these roads better then the rest of us, obviously." _Spain said over the phone.  
"Yeah well , so does Romano." America said.  
"We have to catch up to him soon. If he heads into the main part of Rome, we'll lose him for sure." Vatican said. _"The media might not. Look above you. The media is all over this." _Lithuania said with worry.

A few countries poked their heads out the window, and discovered that Lithuania was right. There were several news helicopters hovering over head, following the chase scene.  
"Friends, please keep an eye on what appears on TV. It could help us win this race." Japan said.  
_"Trust me, we are. And mates, you might want to keep your eyes ahead."_ Britain said, and a moment later, the countries realized why.

Italy pulled out a gun and fired a few bullets at the cars. Sweden was lucky to have good driving skills, as he dodged most of the bullets, and made sure that none of them hit the windshield.  
"You guys okay?" America asked. There was a moment of silence before France replied.  
"_Oui. _We're fine."  
_"You have to hurry! If he shoots at Romano…!" _Spain let his voice trail off as he watched the scene unfold on TV.  
He could see Romano's motorcycle quickly gaining ground, and slowly but surely catching up to his brother.

"We can't let him pull the trigger again. How do we stop him from firing?" Japan asked nobody in particular.  
"Here. Let me see if I can be of any help." Switzerland said, suddenly pulling out a relatively large gun and leaning slightly out the window.  
"Switzerland, why do you have a gun?" Russia asked innocently.

Switzerland didn't answer. He closed one eye and aimed at the speeding motorcycle. Placing his finger on the trigger, he gripped the gun tighter.  
Suddenly, he leaned back in the car and put the gun down with frustration.  
"Ugh. I can't get a shot. He's moving around to much. And he's too fast." He said with disappointment.

"I have an idea, aru!" China said suddenly. "Taiwan! Give me one of your hair pins!"  
Taiwan blinked. "What? Why?"  
"Just trust me, aru!" China said, annoyed by the delayed response.  
Taiwan reached up and took out a long, slender, and rather thick, hair pin from her hair and handed it to China with a look of puzzlement.  
"China? What are you doing?" France asked.  
"Proving that sometimes ancient techniques work much better then modern ones, aru." The old country said as he leaned out of the window, the pin in his hand.

Closing one eye, he held the pin expertly between his slender fingers. And he waited. A moment later, Italy glanced back again, raising the gun.  
"China!" Taiwan exclaimed, and was about to reach over and pull him back inside, when he did it.

China threw the pin like a dart, perfectly timed and perfectly aimed, and watched as it hit Italy's arm, causing him to drop the gun.  
The cars and Romano swerved to avoid running over it, as everyone's jaws dropped, stunned.

"China! Dude!" America grinned.  
"Woah." Switzerland shook his head in amazement.  
"Quite impressive, China." France smiled with appreciation.  
"Don't thank me yet. He has another gun, aru!" China drew in a sharp breath as he watched Italy pull out yet another weapon.  
"Can you preform the same trick again, China?" Russia asked.  
"I don't have any more hair pins…!" Taiwan said worriedly.

_"I don't know what just happened, but good job. Although I should warn you, you're getting closer to-" _Iceland said over the phone, but Vatican cut him off.  
"More traffic, more cars, more people, and more roads for him to detour onto." The countries tensed.

Suddenly, they realized something.  
Romano was catching up.  
They watched as the older Italian brother accelerated just enough to be driving almost beside him. They held their breath as Italy, once again, raised a gun to his brother's head.  
Even though they were both wearing full motorcycle helmets, a shot that close could easily hit Romano's skull.  
With quick thinking, Romano fell back just enough to avoid the shot. He sped up again, only to reach out and grab the weapon, and his brother's hand.  
They struggled for a moment, and everyone held their breath, while America and Sweden desperately tried to speed up, and help the situation.  
A moment later, Romano fell back again, swerving to avoid the bullets that were now aiming for him.  
He felt one just miss his shoulder as he fell back to the speed of the two cars.

"Switzerland, give me your gun!" He shouted to the nation as he flipped the visor of his helmet up.  
"What? I couldn't get a shot! There's no way you can make a shot like that while driving!" Switzerland countered.

Romano stared at him for a moment, and then spoke. "Just give it to me!" He said with frustration, trying to keep his eyes on the road ahead.  
"I advise that you do give it to him, Mister Switzerland." Vatican spoke up suddenly. "_Signor _Romano is quite skilled…"  
Switzerland hesitated, and then gave the gun over to the Italian, deciding against his better judgment.  
_"Does he expect to make that shot?"_ Belarus' voice came over the phone, thick with irritation, obviously wanting this chase to end.  
"I guess so." France shrugged.

Back in Vatican City, the countries held their breath, watching the big TV screen intently.  
The nations in the cars held their breaths too, as Romano sped up significantly, and raised his arm.

_Sorry Fratello._ He thought as he pulled the trigger.

There was a loud popping noise, and everyone watched as Italy swerved off the road.

Romano had shot the back tire dead on.

Everyone gasped as the younger Italian brother swerved and basically drove off the road into a ditch, flying off of his motorcycle. He was up in the air for a moment, and then fell.  
As soon as he was off the road, all three vehicles stopped a few feet ahead and ran over to where he had swerved. Peering over the railing, all of their breaths caught in their throats as they stayed silent, unable to fully comprehend what they saw below them.  
The motorcycle was definitely destroyed. However, the one thing that wasn't destroyed was Italy.

Because he had disappeared.

"What the hell?!" America exclaimed, as he pulled off his glasses and put them back on, making sure he wasn't seeing things.  
"Italy-san has disappeared…" Japan murmured in awe.  
"…Nice shot." Switzerland said quietly.  
Just as he said this, the air was suddenly thick with the sounds of sirens, coming towards them.  
"Emergency Responders…How do we explain all of this?" France said as he got a glimpse of the flashing red and blue lights.  
"…We don't. Everyone saw what happened at the press conference earlier. There shouldn't be much surprise." Vatican said.

Soon, there were many policemen, firefighters, and an ambulance on the scene.  
The countries all agreed to let the medical team check them over for any injuries, and soon most of them were given a clean bill of health, so to speak.  
"_Signor _Romano-" Vatican had finished his medical exam and was about to call over Romano to begin his, when he realized that he was no where in sight.  
The other nations noticed too.  
"There he is." Sweden said suddenly, pointing over the railing where Italy had fallen. The others went to the railing and silently looked over again.

The policemen and firefighters had already checked over the wreckage sight and determined that the motorcycle was totaled, and there was in fact, nobody down there with it.  
There wasn't anybody down there except for Romano.  
The nations watched in silence as Romano, who had his hands in his pockets, stared silently at the wreckage scene. His head lowered.  
It was clear to the other nations that the adrenaline he had had that had propelled him forward was gone. The effects of the situation they had been in was finally taking its toll, and it wasn't a good feeling.

Suddenly, Romano lifted his head, cocking it to the side. The nations watched as Romano bent down towards the motorcycle helmet. He studied it for a minute, then reached out and picked something up, something smaller that they couldn't see.  
As he stood back up, the other personifications realized how pissed he would probably be at them for spying at him, and moved away from the railing, trying to look natural.

"Did you see anything down there, Romano-san?" Japan asked gently as Romano returned to the roadside.  
"Yeah. I got the document he took from my office back…" He said as he gestured with the folded piece of paper in his hand. "…And this." He held up his other finding.  
"What is it?" Russia peered at it curiously.  
"It belongs to my brother."  
It was a necklace. A silver chain held a small silver cross, obviously a catholic symbol. Romano suddenly reached under his jacket, beneath his shirt, and pulled out a similar one. "We have the same one." He said. It was true, the necklaces were identical.  
"Well at least you recovered it. I'm guessing it means a lot to you…" Taiwan said softly. Romano nodded, staring down at the necklace in his hands. He closed his fist around it, and shoved it into his pocket.

"Let's go. I don't wanna stay here any longer then I need to." He mumbled and walked away.

* * *

When they arrived back at Vatican City, they weren't surprised to find that the media had indeed followed them, and caught the entire thing on camera, broadcasting it everywhere. Not to mention, there were lots of reporters outside.  
Vatican escorted everyone into a large library on the second floor, allowing them to converse without fear of being overheard. The group of nations who stayed behind were told the entire story.

"Well that was weird. He, like, totally disappeared!" Poland said, throwing himself down on a couch.  
"It must have been North Pole. He was up in the air for a moment before he fell." Japan commented.

"How's Germany? Is he awake yet?" Switzerland asked.  
"He's fine. He hasn't yet, but the doctors said probably in the morning." Austria replied.

"So…What now?" America asked. Britain stood up from where he had been sitting.  
"I suppose we should all just retire to our beds for now. It's rather late. Tomorrow we can-"  
"Goodnight." Romano called over his shoulder as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"You'll have to excuse him." Vatican apologized, quick to make up for Romano's behavior. "It's been a stressful day, for all of us really. He's just…" His voice trailed off as he searched for the right word to use.

Hungary nodded. "We understand. It is his brother after all…" Her voice suddenly trailed off too, as she thought about Italy, and hoped that he was at least uninjured.  
"Anyway, let's get to bed. I feel like I could fall asleep right now." France yawned.  
"Yeah, me too." Finland agreed. Suddenly, the normally happy nation frowned. "I can't believe this is real. I mean….just, wow." He said, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I know what you mean. Our friend Italy has been taken by Atlantis. Remember how Romano said that his grandfather's citizens called Atlantis pure evil? I'm starting to agree." Hungary murmured softly.  
"And she has some of our other friends and family too. Geez…" America shoved his hands in his pockets.  
"Let's all try to get some sleep. We have a lot of things to take care of in the morning." Austria said, and the nations nodded.

"Hey, before I forget…" Iceland spoke up suddenly. "Did anyone ask Romano what Italy wanted from his office?"  
"It was a document. But I don't' know what it was for…" Russia answered.  
The nations looked around at each other.  
"Should we ask? Or would that be rude?" Taiwan asked.  
"I don't think we should right now. Maybe later. Besides…" France sighed. "Romano's probably having the worst night of his life tonight."  
The countries agreed to give the Italian some space.

* * *

Romano didn't intend on going to bed.  
In fact, even sleeping seemed like a stupid idea.

He walked briskly, but quietly back to his office. He shivered as he went inside, as the shattered window was letting in the cool night air, causing the room to lower in temperature.  
He walked straight to his computer. It only took him a few seconds to find the document again.  
He always knew where it was. He printed off a copy. As he took the paper from his printer, he quickly deleted the entire document off of his computer, erasing it from existence.

As soon as he was done, he left the office, not even bothering to close the door behind him. He sighed as he began to make his way up to his bedroom. Several flights of stairs later, he found himself walking down the familiar hallway leading to his bedroom.  
Romano opened the door, walked inside, and then quickly shut it firmly behind him, sighing as he did so.  
As he turned the lock on the door, he looked around.  
Everything was in place. The grand room that he slept in was perfectly fine.  
Good.

After taking a quick shower, Romano changed into sweat pants and a lose t-shirt. His tired body was longing for the relief of his warm bed, but he fought the temptations. And after shutting the large windows and drawing the curtains over them, Romano got to work.  
The copy of the document was hidden quickly, somewhere that only he would know to look for it.  
The Italian pulled the small couch from one side of his room and placed it about eight feet from the doors.  
He dragged his horizontal dresser along next, lining it up so that the short end was pressed firmly against the crack between the two doors, blocking both at the same time.  
He looked around the room one last time and picked up a bedside lamp. He placed it on the dresser, right on the edge, so that if the dresser was bumped at all, the lamp would fall and crash to the ground.  
Lastly, he went to his closet and took out two objects from a hidden compartment. As he sat down on the couch with a large gun in his hand and a smaller one at his side, he took out his brother's necklace.

Romano pressed it to his lips silently for a moment, and then buried it back in his pocket.  
The nation wouldn't sleep. He couldn't. He no longer felt safe in his own home. He knew where everything was, but so did his brother.  
"Anytime, any place." He wasn't lying when he had spoken the same words at the press conference earlier.  
Romano wouldn't sleep tonight.

_Good night, Fratello._ He thought. _I love you._

* * *

**Dear god, why was that so long?! Anyway, hope you enjoyed and once again, thank you for the reviews/feedback!**


	26. Let Him Know

**I'm so sorry this took so long :(((**

**Here it is, another insanely long chapter for my readers to read. Sigh. My apologies. **

**So, since I have your attention, I have a few notes that I should announce to you all.**

**Firstly, if you didn't see it, i got a MIND-BLOWING review on the last chapter. Unfortunately, the person who left this phenomenal review signed in as a guest, so I could respond. If he or she is reading, i'd just like to say thank you very much. I actually started crying when I read it. Thank you.**

**Secondly, in this chapter, the Enrico Letta, the Prime Minister of Italy is mentioned. I do not own him. If I did though, it'd be cool.**

**Lastly, I have a challenge for EVERYONE! Here it is;  
**

**As I was reading over some previous chapters and reviews, i realized that I may have left some questions unanswered, and some answers vague. So, I wanted to ask all of you to leave me some reviews, asking questions about the story. These questions can be regarding the plot, or just common questions (FAQs if you will). I think that by doing this it will allow me to see how much longer I will have to make the entire story, and also see how clear it has been so far.**

**Thank you so much!**

**Enjoy, and as usual, thank you for the reviews!**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

***Germany's POV***

I woke up shaking.  
Beads of sweat rolled down my forehead as I blinked rapidly, trying to comprehend what was happening.

I wasn't exactly sure what had caused me to react so badly to that dream, but nevertheless, I felt…terrified. Maybe it was from seeing Italy in such a horrible state…I wasn't sure. But the fact that there had been more then one Italy bothered me as well.  
One Italy had been…normal. The first Italy was exactly how I was used to seeing Italy, minus the fact that he was actually willing to put up a fight against something so mysterious.  
That something had been a someone. And that someone was also Italy. An injured, sick, reality-twisted version of Italy. And for some reason, the second version of Italy seemed so…I searched my vocabulary for the right word, and came up empty. The other version of Italy had scared me to death, but I had felt something other then fear when I had seen him. That strange feeling was what was haunting me.

I was lying in a bed, in what looked like a room in a hospital.  
Had they taken me into Rome after I got shot?  
There was a sound, and relief flooded me as I turned to see Prussia. He was slumped back in a chair, sleeping soundly. He was shifting though, as if having a dream. I didn't even want to _think_ about dreaming after that.

"_Bruder. Bruder!"_ I said. Prussia's eyes fluttered open sleepily. He yawned, stretching wide, and rubbed his eyes for a second, before focusing on me.  
His eyes went wide. "You're awake! Finally!" He grinned and I couldn't help but smile a bit.  
"Where am I?" Prussia ran a hand through his shock of white hair sheepishly and rolled his shoulders a bit. "Apparently the Vatican has a hospital wing and a medical staff. They patched up your shoulder for you, but it was pretty much already healing, you being a nation and all."

I blinked. I didn't feel any pain anymore, and other then a bit of soreness, my shoulder felt fine.  
"I see. And what about…" I let my voice trail off as a flashback of what had happened earlier came rushing at me. Italy. The gun. Trident and North Pole. Italy. Italy. Italy.

"…W-what about Italy? Is he…I mean what…?"  
I wasn't sure what to ask. Did I really want to know if he had shot Romano? He'd have to be fine, right? And what about the other nations? The media personnel? Did anyone else get hurt?  
"Hungary came in and told me the whole story." He told me what had happened, thankfully in detail.

So he had wanted a document. Why did he need a gun to get it? Was he being blackmailed? Was he doing it against his will? And what about the car chase? Had he really shot at Romano like that? So effortlessly? It seemed unreal. As Prussia finished filling me in, I frowned.

"Wow. Just…Wow." I couldn't think of anything to say, only questions to ask. "So we're assuming that North Pole was the one who made him disappear?"  
"Yup."  
"…And what was the importance of the document?"  
Prussia shrugged. "I don't know. Romano hasn't told anyone what the document is."  
"Why not?"  
"No clue. According to Hungary, he went almost immediately to bed."  
"…Do you really believe that Romano would just go up to bed and go straight to sleep after all that?"

Prussia pursed his lips together. This was one of those rare times when Prussia was in a serious mood. He had been having these moments a lot recently. I couldn't blame him.  
"No. But to be honest…I don't blame him for it. It's his little brother." He looked back at me suddenly and smiled softly, ruffling my hair with his hand. "It's an older brother thing. We can be over-protective."  
I gave him a smile, but my mind was somewhere else.

"What time is it?"  
"Just after six a.m. Breakfast is in an hour. The same room that we ate dinner in."  
"…How am I supposed to find that? This place is a maze." I mumbled as I swung my legs over the side of the bed.  
I was somehow in pajamas, black pants with a green t-shirt and socks. The medical team had patched up my shoulder, placing gauze and surgical tape on the wound. I was glad that it hadn't taken much to fix.

"I'm going to walk around a bit. I'll see you at breakfast." I said to Prussia as I stood up.  
"M'kay. I'm gonna go take a shower. You okay by yourself?"  
I nodded.  
"See you at breakfast then."  
We made our way to the door before he stopped me.  
"I forgot to tell you…We're going into Rome today."  
"Rome? Why?"  
He smirked, and I was glad that my older brother was still himself. "The message, remember? The one that's apparently from Italy."  
I had completely forgotten about that. I almost felt guilty, knowing that we had pushed aside what could potentially be a vital clue to finding Italy and defeating Atlantis.  
"Oh yes. When are we leaving?"  
"A little after breakfast, I think. It depends on what Romano wants to do, to be honest."  
"Ugh. That's not good." I murmured.

Soon, I found myself wandering aimlessly down the massive hallways. I had no idea where I was, or where I was going. And the sad part was, I was completely aware that it was stupid to get lost like this.  
I wondered if Prussia knew where he was going. Probably not. He'd somehow figure it out though, or get arrested trying.  
My head was still spinning. I wished I had been conscious to see what had happened last night.  
Italy tried to get away on his own motorcycle, got chased down by the other nations, then got shot and disappeared. Romano even got the document back. Bu the questions still lingered.  
Where was he trying to go? And what was in that document that Romano didn't want us to see?

I would have to talk to him about it. Curiosity was starting to flood through my veins like blood.  
I wanted…no I _needed_ to know what Romano was hiding.  
I needed to know what he was keeping from the rest of us.  
And I needed to know why Italy, or the brain-washed version of him, had wanted the document so desperately. Another question lingered though. Had Romano really made a shot like that? How? Italy had never even wanted to come near a gun, and yet Romano was somehow a better shot then Switzerland? How was that even possible? Ugh. It was too early and I was too tired to think straight.  
I needed a coffee and some food first, before I started questioning everything.

* * *

***Romano's POV***

When I heard my bedside alarm go off, I knew it was morning.  
Well that, and the fact that some stupid birds wouldn't shut up and stop chirping told me that it was time for me to get up.

I put down the larger gun and picked up the smaller one, tucking it into the waistband of my pants. As I stood up and stretched, I realized something.  
I was still in hot water with all these nations around.

Great.

Why the hell did everyone have to ask so many questions?  
I sighed irritably and went over to the curtains. The sunlight made me squint from being willingly locked in a dark room for more then seven hours.

_Good morning, Fratello._ I thought as I watched the early risers of the Vatican City mill around outside. _Are you awake yet?_ I looked at the time.  
Normally, he wouldn't be up this early unless he had a reason to be. Sometimes, he would get up and start making breakfast. Or he would get up early and go straight to his art studio, inspiration pouring out of him so much, I sometimes thought I could catch some of it in buckets and give it to the rest of the artists who wanted skills like his.

Yawning, I de-blockaded the door, and put the guns back where they belonged. Nothing had happened during the night.  
I was safe.  
For now.

I checked the clock on my nightstand. What would happen at Christmas without Veneziano? _Will I have you back in time? _I thought as I padded downstairs.  
I probably looked like shit, but I didn't care. I needed coffee.  
I walked for a few more minutes before turning into a sitting room. Veneziano and I sometimes sat in these sitting rooms before our first tasks of the day. Now, it seemed to empty without him yawning sleepily and talking about what we were planning that day.

I put on some coffee and sat down on the couch, staring out the huge window. _This is one of your favorite coffee brands._ I thought, taking a sip. _Except I added more sugar then you usually do. It wakes me up faster, you know that._ As soon as I finished the cup, I made another. As I was taking a sip, I suddenly heard footsteps in the hallway.

Ugh. I hate people.

And of course, because God just loves to screw with me, it just had to be that Potato-Bastard that walked in.

"Good morning." He said simply, as he put some coffee on.  
"_Buongiorno._" I said without thinking. _Why are you such good friends with this potato-eater, Veneziano?  
_"…Romano? Are you drinking a double expresso?"  
"Yup."  
"How many cups have you had?"  
"Four."  
"…What?! Do you always drink this much coffee in one morning?!"  
"Yup."  
"Why?!"  
I put my cup down and stared at him, too tired to make it intimidating.  
"You think I'm terrible during the day. Do you really want to see what I'm like in the morning?"  
He sat down on the couch and flinched. "Not at all."

"Good. How's your shoulder?" I asked out of curiosity.  
"It's almost healed. Thank God I'm a nation." He rubbed it absent-mindedly.  
"Hm." I took a long sip of coffee. And then spat it out.

"Ah! What the hell?! What's wrong?!" The bastard jumped as I tried to calm down my breathing.  
"You…Your…Your shoulder is almost healed!" I gasped. He stared at me.  
"…And?"  
I mentally face palmed.  
"Tell me bastard, what happens to a personification if he or she is harmed by a regular human?" I said sarcastically. He blinked. "They heal very quickly." I stared at him until his brain decided to finally put two and two together.

"Oh _mein gott_…!"

I blinked back tears as I stood up, and pretty much threw the coffee mug to the side, not caring what happened to it, or the contents in it.  
"…Romano…!" He was in shock.  
So was I. _Fratello, why did you resign?! Now you're…Now you're…_ I couldn't bring myself to think about it. There was no way my brother was now just a regular human. There was no way that he wasn't a nation anymore.  
He's my brother for god's sake! He's…I could still feel him. He was still there. If he wasn't a nation, I wouldn't be able to feel him…right?  
What would happen when we used the _Dormire Crocifisso?  
Why can't there just be some sort of goddamn rule book or something?!_

"Romano! Get back here! Romano!" That blonde bastard called after me, but I was already on my way upstairs.

* * *

"Well, that just about covers the entire place." Britain said, putting his hands on his hips with a satisfied look. "There aren't any listening devices in here. Completely private."

"THAT'S what you were crawling around for?" America rolled his eyes as he flipped through channels on the TV. Britain was about to reply with a sarcastic remark, when Japan cut him off.  
"That's wonderful, Britain-san. _Arigato_." He said with a bow.

"So…all that was just to make sure we weren't being spied on? I thought he lost one of his brain cells." Belarus murmured as she sat down on the couch beside America.  
"I'm glad SOMEONE agrees with me." The American said loudly enough for Britain to hear. "Besides, if we wanted privacy, we could've just gone into the gardens or something. Or a confession booth."  
"Confession booths are for confessing, not talking about espionage plans!" Britain replied.

"Anyway, at least we know that we are safe to converse in private here." Japan said.  
"Exactly. I think we should consider poking around the place tonight if not later today. We'll have to be careful of course, but I think we'll find some useful information."  
"_Hai._ I agree. I will let Taiwan know of our plans." Japan said as he bowed politely and made his way to the room that Taiwan slept in.

_Say…Shouldn't we let China know too?_ Britain thought. He wondered why Japan hadn't said that he was going to tell China first, but decided not to bother with the subject.  
The gentlemen casually looked around for the Asian country, until he found China sitting on the railing of the balcony. He was perfectly still and quiet. Britain walked out onto the balcony and shut the door behind him.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything…?"  
"Not at all. I heard you coming, aru." China replied without turning around.  
Britain smiled and stood beside him, leaning against the railing.  
"Our accommodations are officially bug-free. Listening bugs, that is."  
"That's good, aru."  
"We were planning to sneak around a bit later today, maybe tonight. First we have to see what this message is all about of course."  
"Alright, aru."

Britain looked up at him, watching him carefully. His voice was there, but his mind wasn't. He was frowning slightly, and his eyes were dark, no hint of the usual happy emotion. It was obvious that China was thinking hard.  
"What is it, China? What are you thinking?" Britain asked quietly.

China stilled, then sighed. He closed his eyes as he spoke.  
"Yesterday, when I threw that hair pin at Italy…"  
"You did an excellent job. Are you feeling….guilty?"  
China opened his eyes and scowled. "Not at all. Atlantis has South Korea and Hong Kong, aru."  
"Okay, then what's the problem?"

China relaxed for a minute, thinking hard about how to word his statement. He reached up and pulled his hair out of its usual tight ponytail, then put it back up again.  
"When I threw the pin…I was watching carefully. I had to keep my eyes dead on my target, aru."  
"And?"  
China frowned. "I don't know…I was focusing very hard, and…I thought for a minute…I thought I saw something, aru."  
"You saw something? On Italy?"  
"Well…Not exactly. I thought I saw something strange for a minute, but I have no idea what it was. I…It just keeps bothering me, aru."  
Britain frowned at this for a moment, then smiled passively. "I'm sure it'll come to you."  
"I hope so. I hope it wasn't something important, aru."

"Hey losers! We're going to get some food now, so hurry up!" The two were startled by Prussia yelling over to them.  
"Oh, Prussia. How's Germany? Is he awake?" Britain asked.  
Prussia nodded then gestured inside. China and Britain could see Germany in the lounge area, talking to Austria. "I'm glad he's awake now, aru." China smiled gently.

* * *

Soon, most of the nations found themselves wandering almost helplessly down endless hallways.  
"Does anyone have a map or somethin'? I'm starving!" America whined.

Britain was about to give a sharp comeback, when he realized that France was beside him. He looked tired, and was acting strangely again. He was unsocial, quiet, and serious-looking.  
"Haven't seen you this morning." Britain said casually.  
"Slept in." The Frenchmen replied quickly and brushed pass him.  
_What's the matter with him today? _Britain thought, but suddenly remembered what had happened yesterday.  
As he stared at his back, Britain found himself wanting to speak. For the first time, he actually wanted to say something to France. Something to make him feel better about what had happened yesterday. And yet, he couldn't find the words, which made him surprisingly frustrated. Instead, he called to Sealand, who was skipping happily a few steps ahead, and told him to slow down a bit.

It took them a few minutes, and they stopped and asked for directions three times (one out of three of the staff they asked spoke English), but they finally made it to the dining room, where breakfast was being served.

"Good morning, everyone." Vatican greeted them as they walked in. As they all sat down to enjoy the delicious continental breakfast that was laid out for them, Romano walked in. He had gotten dressed and ready. But the nations couldn't help but notice the extremely dark circles under his eyes. Almost everybody was staring at Romano out of the corner of their eyes, carefully analyzing his demeanor.  
He looked stiff, almost tense.

As Romano sat down, he glanced at Germany, who raised an eyebrow silently. Romano reached up and casually tapped his mouth, as if trying to decide what to eat first, all while keeping his eyes on Germany, who understood the message.  
_He wants me to keep quiet about Italy possibly not being a nation anymore. _Germany nodded slightly, so only Romano would notice. The quick conversation went unnoticed by the other countries.  
_Why does he want me to keep it a secret? It's not like it'll be a huge shock. In fact, most of the other nations have probably already put two and two together._ He decided to leave the subject alone.

After breakfast, the countries quickly made their way to the garage again. "Here. You can drive some of the cars yourselves." Romano said reluctantly. "But not a single scratch, got it?"  
America grinned. "Dude! Totally awesome!" He looked around at the room full of sparkling automobiles. "Which ones can we take?"  
"I'll show you which ones are mine. You can take a couple of Veneziano's too. He doesn't drive them as often." Soon, the countries were all comfortable in several different cars, and were being escorted by police to the parliament building in Rome.  
Most of the countries stared out the window the entire time, fascinated by Rome.  
"Wow. Is it, like, rush hour?" Poland asked nobody in particular.  
"I don't know. But it's quite a city, that's for sure." Russia smiled innocently.

Soon, they made it to the parliament building, where they were immediately gestured in and scanned for weapons. Japan couldn't help notice that Romano and Vatican were the only ones not scanned for security. Once they were scanned and signed in, the group was led to a conference room, where they were pleased to find several foods and beverages set out for them.  
"How are you still hungry? We just ate a moment ago." Britain rolled his eyes as America started eating.  
The American said something unintelligible through a mouthful of _colazione_ in response.  
One of the officials that led the group into the room said something to Romano in Italian. Romano then nodded and the officials left.  
"Ugh." Romano moaned as he flopped down in a chair.

"What's wrong, Romano? You look tired." Spain commented innocently. "Of course I'm tired, you bastard!" The Italian snapped, rubbing his eyes with his fists. Spain was about to ask why, when a man walked in.  
He was dressed in a suit, and had glasses and a receding hairline.

"_Ah, eccolo! Sud Italia in persona!_" He smiled brightly at Romano who stood up. He was smiling, which surprised the other nations.  
"_Chi altro potrebbe essere? Chi non muore si rivede._" He replied as the two hugged quickly, and pulled away smiling. "Ah, everyone, this is Enrico Letta, the Prime Minister of Italy. And _technically_ also my boss. Sort of. Long story."

"Ciao! Buongiorno! Welcome to Italia. I hope you enjoy your stay here." He nodded at the other countries. The countries all replied respectively  
. Mr. Letta suddenly frowned and put one arm around Romano's shoulders, and placed his other hand on his chest, bringing him closer. He lowered his voice and spoke in rapid Italian.

"_Mi dispiace per tuo fratello, Romano. Ho visto quello che è successo al telegiornale. Stai bene?_"  
Germany wished he could understand what he was saying, but all he picked up was the word _fratello_. Brother?  
_He's talking about Italy._ He thought.  
Romano's face fell as the Prime Minister spoke. Was that…sadness? It was rare to see Romano display such an emotion in front of everyone, even for a moment.  
_Then again, it's impressive that he's gone this far without a break of character, considering the situation._ Germany thought as he watched carefully.  
Romano hesitated then spoke in Italian.

"_No. Per niente. Sto morendo. Ma devo sorridere e sopportare fino a quando questo è finito."  
_Mr. Letta frowned for a minute, then smiled softly.  
"_Sono orgoglioso di te. Sei andato questo lungo senza rompersi. Il tuo nonno sarebbe fiero. E tuo fratello sarebbe grazie._" Romano nodded, then realized that they were still surrounded by a bunch of nations.

"So what is it? What's the message?" He asked as he shook off the Prime Minister's arm.  
"It's in safekeeping. I should warn you though, it's in Latin." He paused. "It seems that Veneziano wrote it himself." "Latin?" Spain tilted his head with curiosity.  
"Yes. It's already been scanned for fingerprints, substance residue, that sort of thing. There are three sets of finger prints on the paper; Veneziano's, the messenger's, and another set that we can't identify. The messenger is in custody. I will bring you a copy of the message, if you'll excuse me." He nodded to the group and left the room once again.

"Latin? Do you speak Latin, Romano?" Estonia asked, pushing his glasses up on his nose.  
Romano didn't answer. He was staring out into space.  
"Romano!" Spain snapped his fingers, which brought Romano back down to Earth.

"Huh? Oh. Yeah, Veneziano and I are fluent in it. _Nonno _spoke Latin and Italian."  
"Well. Got any other surprises up your sleeve?" America said sarcastically, leaning back in his chair.  
Romano scowled at him and crossed his arms. "I speak Latin, Italian, Hebrew, English, Spanish, and Portuguese. Is that a problem?" He glared.  
America shrugged, oblivious to Romano's death glare.  
Germany was about to say something, when the Prime Minister entered the room again.  
"Here's a copy of it." He said and placed it in the middle of the table.  
Mr. Letta and Romano sat down as the entire group leaned forward, wanting a good look at the paper. There was very scrawled, almost illegible writing on the front in a language most countries couldn't understand.

"What the heck? I can't read, like, a single word on the page!" Poland whined.  
"It's in Latin remember? And the writing's just messy." Spain said. "Would you like me to-"  
He was about to offer to translate it, but Romano slid the paper toward himself quickly and started reading.  
"Um, hello? Can you let us in on the message?" Turkey said with irritation.

"Huh? Oh, right. Here's what it says. _Not sure where I am. Others are here, not hurt. Army will soon be ready. Prepare to fight on the twenty-first. Antarctica is a friend. I'm worried about Venice. Destroy all of my documents. I can't hold on much longer. I don't want to hurt anyone. I'm sorry. I love you."  
_ His voice lost it's strength as he read the last few sentences.

There was a stunned silence.  
Then, everyone started talking all at once.  
"SILENCE!" Germany demanded, and the room quieted.

"Whoa. 'Prepare to fight on the twenty-first'?" Turkey raised an eyebrow.  
"_'Army will soon be ready.' _Is Atlantis building an army?" Britain pondered.  
Romano stared down at the piece of paper, silent.

"Let's take this sentence by sentence." France suggested, and received several nods in agreement.  
"_'Not sure where I am.'_ Well that's pretty self-explanatory." Spain said, but Austria frowned.  
"How can that be? Just yesterday he showed up with a gun right in front of us." He pointed out.

"Okay, what about the next line, aru? '_Others are here, not hurt.'_ Do you think he means the other nations?" China asked hopefully.  
"Probably. And it seems like they're not hurt." Belarus said.

"What about this? '_Army will soon be ready.'_ Atlantis is preparing an army?" Switzerland asked, and started considering the amount of gun-power he had.

"_'Prepare to fight on the twenty-first'_ So, on the twenty-first, she's going to attack. And we'll have to be ready to defend the Earth and fight back." France murmured, pursing his lips together.  
Britain couldn't help but notice the lack of the usual passive tone in his voice.

"Okay, but, like, what about the next sentence. '_Antarctica is a friend.' _So…Antarctica is, like, on our side?" Poland looked around for an answer.  
"Maybe. Maybe that's where he's gotten all of the information from. This Antarctica person could possibly be intending to be a double agent. Maybe he or she doesn't want to work for Atlantis anymore, and is hoping to join our side. Maybe Italy really has befriended him or her." Britain suggested.

"Alright stop!" Romano exclaimed suddenly. "There's no point in picking apart sentence by sentence! I've already figured out what the whole thing means." He rolled his eyes and sat back in his chair.  
"What? Really?" Germany asked.

"Of course. Basically, the other nations that were captured are being held in the same area or whatever that _Fratello_ is, and they're not hurt, but he doesn't know where they are. He's befriended Antarctica for whatever reason, and found out from him or her that Atlantis is building an army and is planning to attack on the twenty-first. He's worried about Venice because, as you idiots hopefully know, it has streets that are made of water.  
Therefore, Atlantis is probably going to attack with water, possibly try and flood everything. And…"

He paused, looking back down at the paper. Spain swore he could see a painful emotion in his eyes.  
"…I think what he means by '_I can't hold on anymore' _and _'I don't want to hurt anybody_', is that Atlantis is …well…controlling him, and he's trying to resist it. Which means that this was written before he attacked us yesterday. Which also means he's been there for at least a week, which could also mean that he was captured just after he resigned." Romano sat back in his chair, satisfied.

"Wow, Romano. I mean….wow." America said, his jaw dropping.  
"Excellent deduction." Britain murmured.  
"Impressive." Japan nodded politely.

"Wait. That's great that you've figured out what the message means, but what about that other line?" Prussia asked casually.  
"Which one?" Romano looked at him.  
"You know, the one where he's like, 'Destroy all of my documents.' What does that mean?"  
"I…" Romano thought quickly, feeling his heart leap with the mention of it.  
Germany pondered this. _Does this have something to do with the document that Italy tried to take from Romano's office? _He thought.  
He suddenly had a very suspicious feeling about Romano.

"…I…I don't really know." Romano frowned, not meeting anyone's eyes.  
"I'm impressed with all of you." Mr. Letta smiled.  
"Thank you. But I should mention, that we still have this mysterious messenger to meet." Japan reminded everyone. "Oh, yes! I almost forgot." Vatican said. He paused for a moment, thinking.  
"Do you…Do you think it could be Antarctica?" He realized that the possibility was there.

"It doubt it. The messenger is an Italian citizen." Mr. Letta frowned.  
Romano's head snapped up. "An Italian citizen? Do you think he or she has something to do with this?"  
The Prime Minister shook his head. "It's a he, and I doubt it. He said that he was just delivering some food, when a young woman approached him, and held a weapon to his back. Let's go meet him, shall we?" The nations nodded, and stood up silently, mostly shocked by this new information.  
Romano folded up the piece of paper carefully, and put it deep in his pocket.

* * *

The nations stood outside of an interview room, staring in through a window. They watched the person in the room silently, waiting for Romano to join them. He had stepped outside to talk to the Prime Minister.

"Can he see us?" Ukraine asked softly.  
"No. All he sees is a mirror." Russia responded, knowing how these interview rooms worked.

The young man inside was pacing feverishly, and chewing nervously at his thumbnail. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt with dark jeans. His hair was dark and curly, and his brown eyes were obviously red from tears. He was obviously not yet an adult, and it was quite obvious and somewhat disturbing for the nations to see that the messenger was only in his teens.  
_He's scared._ Japan thought as he watched the boy walk back and forth.

Vatican, who had been staring hard at the teenager, frowned suddenly and shook his head.  
"What's wrong?" Hungary whispered softly to the personification.  
Vatican turned to her and sighed. "You'll see."

"Alright. Let's get this over with." Romano muttered as he approached the group.  
"_Signore _Romano…There's something you should see…" Vatican said, the worry quite evident in his voice.  
"What I want to see is the bastard who delivered the message." He said as he stepped forward and looked into the interview room.

Immediately, all of the color drained from his face and he drew in a sharp breath.  
"_Dio mio_…" His voice trailed off as he stared at the pacing boy.  
"Romano…" Vatican let his voice trail off.  
A few curse words found their way under Romano's breath.  
"Romano, what's wrong?" Spain asked, worried.  
"Shit." The Italian said clearly.  
"What the heck, Romano?" America poked him, trying to comprehend the situation.  
"…That's a good question." He murmured and suddenly moved briskly towards the door to the interview.  
The countries watched as he threw open the door and stormed in, his face twisted with rage.

"WHAT THE HELL, NICO?!"  
He just about screamed at the younger boy, who was once again, crying.

"He knows him?!" Spain gasped and turned to Vatican as Romano started shouting at the boy in rapid Italian.

"Yes. Romano and Veneziano have known him since he was a child. His name is Nico Armetta. He's about…sixteen years old." Vatican explained to the group of nations.  
"His father left him and his mother, and his mother later died of sickness, so he was left by himself as a child. Veneziano found him and brought him back to Rome, where him and his brother put him in a good home and sent him to school. They've been keeping an eye on him ever since."  
He paused and looked back to the boy and Romano, who was obviously angry.  
"Master Veneziano and his brother are quite fond of him. They're…almost like his godfathers in a way."  
"…And HE delivered the message?!" Britain exclaimed, surprised.

Inside the interview room, Romano was glaring daggers at Nico.  
"_Romano, I can explain!" _Nico begged in Italian, blinking back tears.  
Romano stared at the boy for a minute, then sighed, irritated.  
"_You told the police that you were delivering food, when a woman came up to you and held a knife to your back." _He tried to calm himself down, but was finding it very difficult.  
"_Well, I-"  
"And I want know what the hell you were thinking when you decided to ditch class?! And what food could you have been delivering?!" _He was angry.

Nico took a deep breath and spoke in English. "I…I was given a story to tell the police." He said. Romano stared at him.  
"…A story?" He asked quietly.  
"Yes, a story. A cover-up. I don't even know why, though. I was supposed to repeat it until I met with you!" He gestured to Romano.  
"Whoever gave him the message and the story knew of his relationship with Romano." France murmured.

"Alright." Romano said non-chalantly. "So you have another message? For me?" He leaned against the wall, pinching the bridge of his nose.  
"He's been lying this entire time?" Mr. Letta was surprised.  
"…Seems that way." Germany murmured.  
"Yes!"  
"Well, what is it?!"  
Nico took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down, and looked back at Romano.

"The other nations have escaped, and they're on their way here."

* * *

**Translations:**

_Buongiorno. **= Good morning. (Italian)**_

_Hai = **Yes**_** (Japanese)**

_"Ah, eccolo! Sud Italia in persona!" = **Ah, there he is! South Italy in person! (Italian)**_

_"__Chi altro potrebbe essere? Chi non muore si rivede._" = **Who else would it be? Long time no see. (Italian)**

_"Mi dispiace per tuo fratello, Romano. Ho visto quello che è successo al telegiornale. Stai bene?" = **I'm sorry about your brother, Romano. I saw what happened on the news. Are you okay? (Italian)**_

_"__No. Per niente. Sto morendo. Ma devo sorridere e sopportare fino a quando questo è finito." = **No. Not at all. I'm dying. But I have to grin and bear it until this is over. (Italian)**_

___"__Sono orgoglioso di te. Sei andato questo lungo senza rompersi. Il tuo nonno sarebbe fiero. E tuo fratello sarebbe grazie._" = **I'm proud of you. You've gone this long without breaking. Your grandfather would be proud. And your brother would thank you. (Italian)**

_"__Dio mio..." =_ **My god... (Italian)**


	27. Memories

...**And once again, i give you another crazy long chapter. Great.**

**So before we begin, I have two things to mention.  
**

**First, I just wanted to apologize for any mistakes in translation. As you probably know, I'm from Canada, and I only speak English, some French, and a bit of Spanish. So I have to use google translate for the other languages. Although, I did type the French dialogue out myself, so yay for me!**

**Secondly, I wanted to bring up social media!**

**My instagram account is: luvlani_**

**and my tumblr account is: luvlilani**

**I'm working on creating an anime blog on tumblr so i'll have my personal blog and my anime/manga/obsessive fangirl blog. i also just realized you'll find an actual picture of me.  
**..**..Not sure how I feel about that.**

**Anyway, thank you and enjoy! As always, feedback is appreciated.**

**Are there any more questions?**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

"We can make repairs to the window, you know." North Pole said softly.

"The window isn't the problem. It's the nations who used it to escape." Trident snapped. He turned back to Atlantis. "They escaped yesterday. Maybe if we had noticed sooner, we could've stopped them."

Atlantis didn't reply.  
"…Atlantis?" He tried again.

Suddenly, the water in the stone pool in front of them started to ripple. The ripples got bigger until the top of Atlantis' head came up from under the water. She had her back to them as she rose up from the water, her head bent. She stopped at chest level.  
Trident watched her carefully. It wasn't very often they saw Atlantis like this. While she was bathing, nobody disturbed her. Sometimes her baths would last hours, but she eventually emerged from the water. Eventually.

"Pack everything." She said simply, her voice low and intimidating.  
South Pole swallowed hard as she spoke. She hated when Atlantis was like this. And she seemed to always be like this.  
"What do you mean?" Trident narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what she was thinking.  
"We're leaving."  
Everyone in the room was stunned.  
"You mean, we need a new HQ?" South asked hesitantly.  
"Yes. Those nations are smarter then I give them credit for. We need to leave. They could potentially back-track and discover us."  
"You mean, they could…locate our home?" North asked quizzically.  
"Exactly. We're leaving. Now go." Atlantis snapped and the others turned to leave. She stopped them suddenly.

"Send in Veneziano." She said.  
Trident nodded and left.  
South pursed her lips together at this, but didn't say anything.  
They left silently.

A few minutes later, the Italian walked in silently.  
Without any hesitation, he slipped off his clothes and left them on the ground.  
As he lowered himself into the water, Atlantis spoke.  
"We're leaving." She said simply.  
"I know. North Pole told me." He replied as he swam closer to her. "It's a good idea. They could find us." He reached for her, but she avoided his touch.

"Don't touch me! You've failed!" She snapped, gripping her teeth together.  
He sighed, ashamed. "I'm sorry. I underestimated him. I underestimated all of them." He said quietly.  
He reached for her again, and this time she didn't pull away. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled her against him, burying his face in her hair.  
"I'm sorry." He whispered gently into her ear, nuzzling her neck. She relaxed a little as he did this, the reassurance of his dedication filling her with pride.

"…What did he say when he saw you?" She asked curiously a few moments later.  
Veneziano shrugged and rolled his eyes. "I don't know. I don't remember." He said as passively as he could.  
It wasn't enough. Atlantis could hear the attempt at passiveness in his voice, and whirled around to face him.

"Are you lying to me?" She narrowed her eyes as she spoke quietly but sharply. Veneziano blinked at the sudden directness.  
"N-no! Of course not!" He shrugged. "I just wasn't interested in what he had to say."  
"I don't believe you."

There was a long silence as they stared at each other, Atlantis' piercing eyes glaring directly into his. Veneziano didn't shift his gaze either, and was determined to stare straight into her eyes. He wouldn't shy away.  
"Do you care what happens to Romano?" She asked carefully, analyzing his every movement, his every breath.  
"Not at all." He tried to sound passive but he suddenly found himself flashing back to yesterday, when he had been in Romano's office with him.  
"You're lying. Let me see what really happened." Atlantis said calmly as she closed her eyes.

Suddenly, the water pulled Veneziano underneath and he found himself at a loss for air. Atlantis slipped calmly under the water and moved towards him, her dark hair flowing out around her.  
Veneziano squeezed his eyes shut as Atlantis pressed her hands to his temples.

_"…Because. You're my baby brother. I know how you -the real you- would feel if this got into the wrong hands." He was stroking Veneziano's cheek.  
Veneziano was thinking.  
Romano let his fingers trail over his brother's cheek and behind his ear, gently tucking a stray piece of hair in place.  
"What's happened to you, Veneziano?" Romano murmured.  
He was about to reply._

_He was about to reply!  
It isn't enough. I underestimated his will power. _Atlantis thought. _I have to submerge him completely. He can't have even a single shred of doubt towards me. He can't feel a single thing when he sees those nations. _

She moved her hands of off his temples and pressed a hand to his chest. The water surrounding him and her started glowing, an eerie yet natural light appearing.

_No! _ _Stop!_

Atlantis scowled as she realized that he was still resisting. _He's been trying to resist this entire time._ She thought. With a cry of frustration she pressed her other hand to his chest, and focused more of her energy, passing it through her hands.

_Stop! I won't…I won't let you do this!_

_You don't have any choice now. You never did._

_N-no! I…I won't hurt my friends. I'm not going to help you take over the world!_

_Yes you will! You're MINE. If you weren't so damn weak you might actually have a fighting chance!_

_I'm not weak!_

He was truly resisting. Atlantis felt a strange emotion coil up in her stomach and wrack through her body. Was this…fear? _NO! I don't feel fear! I have no reason to! _She pushed back the emotion and once again tried to focus her energy.

_Yes you do._

_What?_

_You have every reason to be afraid._

Suddenly, Atlantis found herself submerged in Veneziano's memories.

The nations. He was showing her the nations.

There was America.  
And Britain.  
France, Russia, China…  
Soon a memory with Japan came, and then another with Germany.  
Atlantis watched as Austria played his piano, Hungary standing beside him. Prussia stormed in swinging a sword around before the memory faded and another took its place.  
Finland flying magically in his sleigh, and Sweden scaring him to death.

One by one, Atlantis was forced to watch these small and short memories, each with a different nation. Canada…Seychelles… Australia… She tried to push them away but she couldn't.  
The memories were keeping her from thinking straight, and she could only watch.  
Eventually, she got glimpses of The Holy Roman Empire. Those memories were filled with sadness.  
_No.  
_ Grandpa Rome was there suddenly, laughing as he watched his small grandchildren pretending to be gladiators.  
_No!  
_ And then the memories moved on to Romano. He was walking beside Veneziano with his arm around him, and they were both laughing hysterically at something.  
_Stop!_

_All of them are strong in their own way. Individually, they couldn't defeat you. Together, you won't stand a chance. You are right to feel fear._

_No!_

Atlantis pushed him away with all the force she had and shut her eyes, breathing in the water rapidly.  
_Why am I being so emotional? Why couldn't I submerge him again? _She thought as she tried to calm herself down. _I thought it had worked the first time, but he kept resisting until he was strong enough to allow his body to actually start doubting his orders. I just need to do it again, stronger this time. I underestimated him once. Not again. _She exhaled slowly as she opened her eyes.

Time stood still.  
He stared at her.  
She stared at him.

His eyes were brown.

Veneziano suddenly started swimming upwards, desperate to reach the surface.

_He broke free._ Atlantis was paralyzed as she stared at his retreating figure.

Veneziano finally broke the surface and took a big gasp of air. His head was still swimming, but he swam as quickly as he could to the side of the pool, and hoisted himself out.  
He had done it.  
He fell to the ground suddenly as his feet touched solid ground.  
_Move! Move!_ He mentally screamed at himself, but his body was too weak.  
He had finally broken from Atlantis' grasp on him, but now there was nothing to keep the pain away.

He tried desperately to get to the door, barely crawling as the pain wracked through his body in tremors.  
Finally, Veneziano collapsed and clutched at himself, mentally begging for the pain to stop.

He screamed as the skin on his wrists split open, the wounds reanimating themselves.  
It was torture, and he wasn't even being touched.  
He felt the cold ground against his cheek as he realized he couldn't support his own body anymore.  
_Stop!  
_ He felt pressure on his face, and a dark bruise started forming just under his eye. The skin on his neck tightened and began ripping open, bloody lines reappearing where his throat had been slit several times. And all he could do was scream.  
Scream and wait for it to end. Even though he knew that there would never be an end to this.  
He couldn't scream anymore.  
Darkness crowded his vision as he barely registered a shadow looming over him.

"See? If I don't subdue you, you're too weak to move." Atlantis stood over him, water swirling around her.  
"See? I'm doing you a favor. If I don't keep you submerged, you'll die." She said as she watched him twist in agony. _This is your fault! _He wanted to scream, but he could feel the pressure in the back of his throat and the blood pooling as the flesh in the back of his throat was ripped.

Every wound was coming back again, and making sure to be as painful as it was the first time.  
_Help me!_ He thought, but who would he call out to?

"I'm going to submerge you again. Don't try and resist. Do you really want to lay there on the ground like that?" She asked calmly.  
A tendril of water reached down and flipped him onto his back, despite his protest. The pain still wracked through his body harshly, but he laid still now, unable to muster any strength. Blood was pouring from his mouth, leaving him unable to talk.  
"Now. Say thank you. I'm doing you a favor."  
He stared up at her, his brown eyes dulled, and coughed up a small amount of blood, desperate for more air.

"Go to hell."

A tendril picked him up and flung him into the stone wall, leaving a large spot of blood where he hit. He fell onto his side, his back turned to her.  
"Well? Are you going to cooperate?"  
The hit almost seemed to calm him down, as he was no longer struggling.

"_Watch, O lord, with those who wake, or watch or weep, and give your Angels and Saints charge over those who sleep,"_ Atlantis scowled.  
_"Be present, O lord, and protect every adult, every child, every citizen in the country of Italia and the rest of the Earth you hold dear."  
_ "Shut up." She said sharply as another tendril moved towards him.  
"_Protect every nation and country, O lord, and protect all personifications, which have been created by thy hand."  
_ "Shut up!" Atlantis snapped as the watery tendril wrapped around his legs and torso tightly.

"_P-protect my dear family and friends, Lord, and keep them in your heart, father, as I will keep them in mine_."  
"You're pathetic." She said as she turned back to the pool and slipped in, the tendril following, dragging Veneziano across the stone.  
"_Please, father, protect my loved ones and do not allow them to suffer for my sins. Heal them in their time of suffering, shield them from evils, and forgive their sins, as well as my own."  
_

Atlantis rolled her eyes, but Veneziano continued. "_Father, please protect Romano from this evil and allow him the strength to defeat Atlantis. Heal him in his time of need and bestow upon him your love, as well as my own. Please keep everyone out of harm's way. I kneel before thy throne asking for forgiveness, O father." _He said finally as the water pulled him under.  
He struggled for a minute, as his blood turned the water around him a deep shade of red.  
"Your faith can't help you this time." Atlantis said as she put her hands to his chest again.  
She froze and stared at his bare chest.

His necklace was gone.

With wide eyes she looked up at him.  
His eyes met hers and her breath caught in her throat.  
"You…"  
"_Amen._" He managed to get out before everything went dark.

* * *

The countries could only wait in silence as the nine nations were quickly examined by medical personnel.

A few moments after Nico had made his shocking statement, an Italian advisor had entered the room briskly and shouted something rapidly at Romano and the Prime Minister. The two had glanced at each other for a second, before Romano had taken off running, shouting for the other nations to follow.  
He and several Italian officials had led the group to a nearby hospital, where they had learned that their friends and family had been taken after they had been spotted just off the coast, out at sea, floating in small motor boats, waving for help.  
"…And so they followed her here. They eventually ran out of gas and were forced to sit and wait for rescue, which is when they were spotted." An Italian official was filling the nations in on the story.

They were full of anxiety and impatience as they waited to see their friends and family.  
"Are they alright?" France asked hopefully.  
The doctor standing beside the official nodded. "They're not yet finished their examinations, but I think they'll make a full recovery." He smiled warmly as the personifications let out a collective sigh of relief.

Vatican spoke to the doctor for a few moments before murmuring a thank you and returning to the group. Among the excited chatter of the nations, Spain spotted Romano, leaning against a wall, his hands in his pockets, staring out the window.  
"What's the matter, _mi amor_ ?" He asked softly as he approached the Italian.  
"Nothing. Leave me alone." Romano snapped, keeping his face turned away from him.  
Spain was about to ask again, when a sudden cry echoed through the room.

"_Dàgē!" _South Korea exclaimed as he ran to the waiting arms of China.  
The other nations had finished their medical exams.  
"Korea! Oh, thank god!" China grinned as he hugged his younger brother tightly.  
He looked up and smiled wider as he extended his arm to include Hong Kong in the embrace. Japan and Taiwan joined in too, and smiles were soon plastered on everyone's faces, relief flooding through them as well as a sense of security, flushing out the nagging worry that they had had.

Similar greetings were taking place between almost every nation.  
Switzerland was surprised when Liechtenstein ran towards him and hugged him tightly around his torso, tears streaming down her face.

"They're safe…" Britain murmured to France, a smile on his face. "Do you think they'll be okay?"  
There wasn't an answer. "France?" Britain turned towards the other blonde nations and was surprised when the French country ran away suddenly.  
Britain watched as he embraced another nation, one who looked shockingly like America. He titled his head in silence as he watched France kiss both cheeks of the younger nation in typical European fashion. Suddenly, America appeared as was hugging him as well.  
"Dude! I am so glad to see you, bro!" He exclaimed happily.  
France was still holding him, and he smiled brightly. As the excited chatter died down, Vatican cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I'm glad everyone is unharmed, but I should remind you that what you've witnessed, everything that you've seen…It's important for us to have all of the information you can give us." He said simply.  
Some of the newcomers looked at him curiously so he smiled. "Ah, I'm sorry. I forgot to introduce myself. I'm the personification of Vatican City or Holy See if you will. Please, call me Vatican." Introductions were made between everyone.

"So, let's get back to Vatican City, shall we? We can ring for sketch artists and officials to help catalogue the new information." Britain suggested.  
There was a chorus of nods, and soon the nations found themselves driving back to Vatican City.  
"Man, this place is cool!" Cuba exclaimed in wonder as he looked out the window to the city of Rome.  
"It's awesome! I can't wait to see what it looks like at Christmas!" Finland said.  
"Hopefully it snows by then…" Germany murmured looking out at the city.

When they reached Vatican City and everyone had parked in the garage, Vatican looked around at all of them. "Well, I suppose since we have some newcomers, we should consider relocating your accommodations…?"  
In the end of all of the chaos, the nations moved to another hallway on the same floor, where there was more then enough room for all of them.  
The hallway was a dead end, purposely made to hold about twenty rooms across from each other, and one extra room that served as a lounge at the end of the hall. As soon as they were all settled in, everyone, except Romano, met in said lounge, planning to fill the newcomers in on the situation.  
Britain discreetly prodded the room for listening bugs, and found none.

"…And then we, like, found out you guys had been rescued!" Poland finished explaining the last part of the story so far.  
"…Atlantis? If I hadn't been captured I wouldn't even believe it." Hong Kong remarked.  
"Why don't you start from the beginning and tell us what happened, aru." China said, placing a hand on Hong Kong's shoulder, but speaking to all of the no-longer-missing nations.

They each took turns describing what had happened.  
Liechtenstein, Greece and Egypt had blacked out shortly after they fell into the earth.  
Hong Kong and South Korea explained that they had similar experiences, as they had blacked out as well.  
Denmark and Netherlands reported the same.  
"I just remember being pulled into the ocean…" Cuba said thoughtfully. He then remembered something else, and told the group about how he had seen a pair of eyes. "It was definitely that chick from earlier…The one who was at the head of the table, ya know? With the dark hair."  
"That must be Atlantis." Vatican said.

"Have you ever seen her, Vatican?" Switzerland asked quietly.  
"Unfortunately, no." He replied. "I believe that only Romano, his brother, and the Roman Empire have ever seen her in person."  
"Wouldn't the Roman Empire want to keep Italy and Romano away from her? I mean, didn't Romano say that he tried to hide the whole situation from them?" Hungary asked curiously.  
"Well, yes but…I suppose that there were times when they saw what was happening, presumably without their grandfather's knowledge." He stood up from where he was sitting and nodded to the group politely. "Excuse me, but I'm going to call for the navy. I'll fetch _Signore_ Romano while I'm at it. I'll leave you all to each other's company."

He turned to leave, but France stopped him. "Vatican, wait! We need connections. Internet, phone service, anything. We can't just leave the rest of the world out of this. We have friends and family who need to be alerted about the attack on the twenty-first." He said firmly.  
"He's right. We have to warn them. They could be in danger, aru." China added.  
Vatican sighed and nodded once. "I will have that done for you by lunch time. After lunch you can contact anyone you want to."  
He hesitated then gave them all an apologetic look. "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but would you all mind contacting each of your friends directly, as to keep this entire situation from being revealed to the public? As you can probably guess, there would be mass panic among the citizens."  
The countries all agreed to this.  
"Excellent. I'll see you all momentarily." He smiled and left the room.

"So, out of curiosity, what was on that document that Italy…uh, the brain-washed version of Italy, took from Romano's office?" Denmark asked casually.  
"We don't know. That's why we plan to, ahem, poke around later this evening." Austria explained.

Suddenly, Spain sighed and sat back in his seat.  
"What's wrong Spain?" Belgium looked at him with worry.  
"I just…I'm just unsure about it." Spain frowned, a rare expression that caught the attention of the other countries. "What do you mean?" America asked.  
"Well…Romano may be, well, _Romano_ all the time, but…" He paused, thinking. "I know he's actually got a big heart. I think we should leave the whole document thing alone. I mean, what if it's just something he doesn't need everyone seeing? Like a financial report or something? I'm sure there are things that every nation doesn't want the rest of the world to see." He said thoughtfully.

"What if it isn't?" Germany muttered suddenly.  
Everyone turned to him. "What if it isn't what?" Spain asked confused.  
"What if it isn't a regular document? I mean…" He looked down at his hands for a moment, then looked back up to meet the eyes of the rest of the group. "…has anyone else been feeling a little suspicious of everything lately? I mean, Vatican won't give us the rest of the tour of the building, Romano isn't revealing what the importance of the document is, and to top it of…In the message Italy sent, he said 'Destroy all of my documents'. What documents? I feel like he's hiding something, and that document has something to do with it."

"What could he be hiding?" Prussia asked. "I mean, it's Romano. Like, he's bold about everything. What could he have to keep a secret?"  
"Okay, well, even if it's not Romano, it could be…It could be Italy." Germany felt weird saying something like that.  
It was Italy.  
Italy, who made pasta every chance he could.  
Italy, who daydreamed most of the day and slept during the rest.  
Italy, who he had known for a long time.  
It was Italy.  
Yet, why was he suddenly so suspicious of Italy?  
_Maybe it has something to do with my dream…? _He realized he could just be paranoid.  
_No. Something's wrong. I need to know what._

"It sounds weird but…" He swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat. "Italy could be hiding something, and Romano is helping him…?"  
There was silence as the room processed that.  
"…I…I suppose Germany-san could be right…" Japan commented. "I mean…not to be rude of course, but I never imagined that Italy-kun and Romano-san would have so many expensive cars. And the amount of food they serve at every meal…" Japan shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts. "I just never expected them to be so wealthy. It never seemed that way."

"Why don't we investigate that later today as well?" Britain suggested. "We can take a quick peek at their financial history. We might stumble across something of importance."  
"Like what? Theft?" America titled his head to the side with curiosity.  
"I don't think so but you never know."

"That's a good idea." Hungary nodded. "We could also find out what happens on the fifteenth."  
"The fifteenth? What's so important about that?" Egypt asked.  
France explained the questions surrounding it.  
"Hm…yes that could also be important regarding the situation." Egypt murmured when he was done.  
"Alright, so that's our plan. After lunch we'll call everybody and let them know about Atlantis, and after dinner we'll, you know, scope the place out." America summarized.

"Some of us could also begin investigating financial history. Maybe…go to a bank? I'm sure Romano and Italy have bank accounts all over the country." Lithuania added.  
"Okay so we'll just split up." Turkey said.  
China suddenly heard something coming down the hall. Footsteps!  
"We'll talk about this later, aru." He said quickly just as the door opened. Vatican walked in, smiling politely with several Italian officials following him.

"Sorry to interrupt. We were hoping to have the navy search the area you came from in hopes of locating Atlantis' lair, and potentially Veneziano as well. If you'll please follow me this way…" He gestured to the nations who had just come from the seas.  
"Where's Romano?" Spain asked Vatican before they left.  
The personification frowned. "I was told that Nico was discharged and sent back to school awhile ago, and Romano went to collect him and bring him here."  
"Here? Why?"  
"I believe he fears for the child's safety…" Vatican's voice trailed off as Spain nodded.

The rescued nations gave as many details as they could to the navy, and luckily finished in time for lunch. The navy personnel promised that they'd do their best to locate the island.  
_Of course they will._ Hong Kong thought as they bid farewell to the representatives. _The safety and possibly the life of North Italy depends on it._

Lunchtime finally came, and as they enjoyed another large buffet, they couldn't help but notice the absence of Romano and Vatican. Luckily, several other people working in the Vatican spoke English as well as other languages. Spain and France were delighted and almost relieved when they realized that some of the personnel, mainly housekeeping, spoke Spanish or French, and sometimes both.

As the nations finished up their meals, Germany couldn't help but let his mind wander. He wasn't sure how tight security was during the night, but he definitely didn't want to be caught during their "mission". Also, would it look suspicious if several nations suddenly decided to take a trip into Rome to visit a bank? Maybe not, if they kept the part about the bank a secret.

On their way to the dining room, they had made several plans for their mission later that night.  
"Once we get connections set up," America had said. "Estonia and I can hack into any security cameras they might have."  
"That could be a huge help." China had added. "It'll be easier for us to move around if we know where to steer clear of, aru."  
"Alright, so we have a plan then. Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong will be our, ahem, _scouts_ if you will, and the rest of us will stay behind and keep contact with them through those small microphones America has." Britain summarized quietly.  
They were all talking in hushed tones, not wanting anyone to overhear.

"Russia, _Angleterre, _Switzerland _et moi_ will go to the bank in Rome and see what information we can get." France had added.

And so the plan was set.  
All it had to do was work.  
Germany couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. It was risky. What if they were caught? What if they did all of this just to find nothing, and make fools of themselves, as well as offending Vatican and Romano?  
_But what if it IS something…?_ He thought as he took a sip of his drink. _What if there Is something wrong? What if Romano IS hiding something? _He looked casually around at the other nations who were talking amongst themselves. _What if Italy is hiding something?_ The thought came without warning, as if it wasn't even thought, but a suggestion made by someone else hearing his thoughts.  
_What could Italy have to hide?  
_ And there it was again, the uncomfortable feeling. He started to think back to the dream he had had after he had gotten shot.  
Italy was hunting down the other version of him.  
Why?  
He didn't want to think about it.

* * *

After lunch, the nations were relieved to find that Vatican had kept his promise, and had opened all internet and phone connections.  
"Yes, Liz, everything's fine so far." Britain smiled and rolled his eyes while he was on the phone.  
"Are you sure, Arthur?" The elderly woman's voice asked softly over the phone.  
"I'm positive. I'll talk to you soon, alright?"  
"…Alright. Take care of yourself."  
"Always. Bye, Elizabeth."  
"Goodbye, Arthur."  
As Britain ended the call he stared at his phone for a moment. Then turned and left the room that he was sharing with Sealand.

"Has everyone finished making the appropriate calls?" He asked Lithuania who was standing in the hallway, having just finished a call.  
"I think so. By the way, France was looking for you. He says it's about…" He lowered his voice. "…_the bank."_

Britain nodded and thanked Lithuania as he headed into the common room to look for the Frenchman.  
"Lithuania says you were looking for me?" He asked as he walked in the room.  
France was sipping a glass of wine on the couch, with Switzerland, Russia, America, that other nation who looked a lot like America, and Germany lounging around the room.  
"_Oui. _We're leaving in a few moments."  
"Leaving? To the bank? Now?"

"_Oui."_ He stood up turned to the nation with a polar bear in his arms, and spoke in rapid French. "_Nous partons maintenant. Etes-vous sur que vous ne voulez pas venir?_"  
"_Non. Je suis bien. Je vous verrai au dîner." _Canada replied.  
"_Prenez garde, mon ange. Je serai bientôt de retour."_ France smiled and patted the nation's head affectionately. Canada smiled and waved to the group as they left the common room.

"Romano doesn't seem to care too much about the security of his cars. He leaves the keys right in them." Switzerland remarked.  
"Lucky for us." Russia smiled innocently.  
Britain realized that the group had already told the others to tell anyone who asked that they were going sightseeing.  
After a few minutes of confusion and slight panic, they finally managed to find their way into the garage, and found themselves staring at a vast collection of shiny motor vehicles.

"Which one should we take?" Russia asked peering curiously at a blue one.  
"Something that will blend in." France said as he looked around.  
"How about this one?" Switzerland pointed to a sleek black convertible.  
France shrugged. "Eh, why not?" He said and they all climbed in, with Switzerland at the wheel.

"Anybody have directions?" Switzerland asked as he pressed a remote garage opener that was on the dashboard. "Here. I'll pull it up online…" Britain said and tapped on the internet icon on his iPhone.  
A few moments later, he had directions to the bank in his hand.  
"Thank god for the internet." He smiled. "And for international coverage."  
As they drove, with Britain giving Switzerland directions, France scowled. "We're not blending in very well. Look at how the Italians drive compared to us!"  
"Yes, frog. The difference is that WE know the rules of the road." Britain snapped, which caused France to mumble an insult in French under his breath.

It took longer then they had expected, but Switzerland finally pulled into a parking lot in _Palazzo Koch._ The nations stepped out of the car and looked up at the rectangular building.  
"This is it. _Banca d'Italia. _The Bank of Italy." France said as they approached the building.  
"What's the name of the boss here?" Russia asked suddenly.  
Britain did a quick online search and pulled up a name. "Ignazio Visco." He replied, stumbling over the foreign name. "He's the man we want to see." He said as they entered the main lobby.  
"Let's hope he speaks English…" Switzerland muttered as they looked around the grand lobby.

There was only a few patrons here today, luckily. Other then the occasional customer, the bank was almost empty. The group of nations strolled up to the first teller they could get.  
"_Ciao. Posso aiutarla?_" The smiling woman said as she analyzed the foreign looks of the nations.  
"Um…" Russia looked around at the others.  
The woman smiled and spoke in English. "Hello. May I help you?" She repeated.  
"Er, yes. We'd like to talk to Mister Ignazio Visco, please." Britain said, aware of how odd he sounded.

The woman's smile faded and she blinked, confused. "Um, under what grounds?" She asked, unsure how to answer this.  
"It's a confidential matter." Britain replied, feeling foolish. _What possessed us to think this would actually work?_ He thought.  
"…I see…One moment please." She said, the look of confusion and uncertainty plastered across her face as she turned and grabbed the attention of another teller, probably her manager.  
The two women spoke in rapid Italian for a minute, before the second woman disappeared and came out of the teller's booth, walking up to the nations.

"I'm sorry, but this request is quite…unusual." She said in English with a heavy Italian accent.  
"We understand, but it's of an urgent matter." Britain replied.  
The woman looked the gentleman up and down before speaking. "…And you are…?"

The four nations simply took out their wallets and held up their passports.  
The woman's shocked stare was enough to make Russia snicker under his breath.  
"…Y-you're…" She seemed to be in total shock as she watched the four men put their identifications away.  
"We'd like to speak to Ignazio Visco now if you don't mind." France said.

The woman nodded and silently gestured for them to follow her. She lead them back into the teller's booth and down a small hallway. Several employees gave them strange looks, but she didn't stop walking.  
She opened another door at the end of the hallway, and the nations suddenly found themselves in a large lobby, much grander then the one they had been in earlier.  
The Italian woman led them to a large set of double doors and opened it, revealing a rather grand staircase. They climbed in silence, and when they reached the top, they found another set of double doors, with a gold name plate on them.  
"This way, please." She led them to the doors and firmly knocked twice. Without waiting for a reply, she stuck her head in and said something in rapid Italian. A man's voice answered her, and she opened the door wider and gestured them inside. As soon as they were in, she closed the door firmly behind them and left.

"_C-ciao…!" _The man sitting at the large oak desk said in surprise as he looked the nations up and down.  
"Ignazio Visco?" Switzerland asked.  
"Y-yes?"

"We'd like to talk to you about Romano and Italy."

* * *

**Translations**

_...mi amor? = _...my love? (Spanish)

_Dàgē! _= Big brother! (Chinese)

_...et moi._ = ...and me. (French)

_Oui. _= Yes. (French)

_Dàgē! = _Big Brother! (Chinese)

_Nous partons maintenant. Etes-vous sur que vous ne voulez pas venir? _= We're leaving now. Are you sure you do not want to come? (French)

_Non. Je suis bien. Je vous verrai au dîner.= _No. I'm fine. I'll see you at dinner. (French)

_Prenez garde, mon ange. Je serai bientôt de retour. _= Take care my angel. I'll be back soon. (French)

_Ciao. Posso aiutarla? _= Hello. Can I help you? (Italian)


	28. What Lies Beyond?

**Hm...Not much to say here...**

**Thank you so much for the reviews. You may not believe it, but I honestly read every single on of them. I always have, and I always will :)**

**Also, I have been considering the length of the story so far, and also starting to plan out the VERY LAST chapter (even though I'm nowhere close to it...).**

**I'm curious as to how long you all are expecting this to be...? Let me know how much longer you think it should last.  
(I already have a pretty good idea, but I'm curious!)**

**As always, enjoy! :P**

**-luvlani88**

* * *

"I'm sorry, but I can't give you that information." The banker said carefully, not meeting the eyes of the Russian who was sitting across from him, with only his desk in between them.

Britain kept an ear on the conversation, but busied himself with making sure that the room didn't have any listening bugs or security cameras. So far, he found none.  
Lucky for them.

"Why not? It's a simple question." France pressed. He was leaning casually against one of the two chairs in front of the desk. "We just want to know if Romano or Italy has had any suspicious financial activity."  
Mr. Visco wasn't being as cooperative as the countries had hoped.  
_But then again,_ Britain had thought, _how could we expect him to give up such classified information just because we asked him to?_

"And I just want to know what all this is about! Why are you suddenly barging in here, asking me for information?" He snapped, trying to defend himself.  
The nations looked around at each other, unsure what to say.  
_We can't tell him anything about Atlantis. _France reminded himself. _So how do we get the information without spilling the secret?_

"You do realize we're nations, da?" Russia asked suddenly, the innocence plastered on his face.  
"Uh, _si_?" Visco replied, his accent thicker then the Russian's.  
"Well, if you don't tell us…We'll just have to make you a wanted criminal in all four countries!" He beamed brightly at this, as if it was good news.  
The banker paled, but didn't respond.

"Look, Mr. Visco." Britain decided to try his luck. "We just need an answer, a bit of information, and then we'll leave."  
"I don't think you understand my position, Mr. UK." He replied. "If I were to give you classified information regarding the financial history of Mr. Romano and Mr. Veneziano, I'd probably be arrested and thrown in jail! I have a family to feed, for god's sake!" He through his hands up in exasperation.  
"We'll make sure nobody finds out." Switzerland added.

Visco sighed. "Why do you need this information anyway?" He asked after a few moments.  
Again, the nations looked around at each other, each mentally debating on an answer to this.  
Finally, Russia broke the silence.  
"You want to help Italy, da?"  
The banker's eyes widened. "Y-you…" He stuttered. "T-this…This all has to do with...Veneziano?!" He gasped.

The rest of the nations nodded reluctantly, and glared at Russia at the same time.  
"Yes. Now if you'll tell us what we need to know…?" Switzerland pressed.  
Mr. Visco looked at them all one by one. Silently, he pursed his lips together and closed his eyes.  
"If I tell you…You must promise not to let anyone know where you got this information. And you must promise that I'm doing this for Romano and Veneziano, nobody else."  
"We promise." Britain said automatically. France raised an eyebrow at him, but Britain ignored him.  
The banker sighed.  
"Fine. I'll give you what you want."  
"Excellent." Britain smirked, and took out his notebook.

* * *

"Can you detect any more?" America asked as his fingers worked quickly on his laptop's keyboard.  
"No, I…Oh wait! Here's one more! I'll put it up on the main monitor." Estonia replied and another box opened on the digital grid, that was being displayed on the main, bigger monitor.

The view for the newly found security camera showed another hallway that was unfamiliar to the nations.  
"Okay, so we have thirty-five so far…" America's voice trailed off as he kept working.  
"Thirty-six. I have just found another one." Japan added and soon another box opened on the grid.  
"Awesome! Think we have all of them?" America asked nobody in particular.

"Maybe you guys should keep working. This place is pretty big." Lithuania commented, frowning at the number of security feeds they had hacked into.  
Japan, America and Estonia had been working for almost an hour now, and while they were glad to finally have enough connection to hack into the security network of the building, they were shocked at just how many security networks and secure areas there were.  
They had 36 security camera feeds up on screen, but just how many more were there?

While the trio was working, most of the other nations decided to help in any way they could. Some of them eventually found Vatican, who had just finished some paper work, and asked him to show them to the gardens. He had agreed heartedly, and so Liechtenstein, Belarus and Hong Kong had gone outside, supposedly to observe the gardens, but what they were really doing was looking at the building itself, mainly windows, doors, and any other relative aspects they could find to help draw a map.

Canada had pitched in by using his natural invisibility, and was currently walking around on the first floor, scoping out different hallways and paths, and had Kumijaro draw a map to the best of his abilities.  
For once, he was glad he was invisible to most people.  
He had found several different hallways and rooms, as well as several staircases, but he was beginning to wonder if they would ever really come up with a fully-completed, accurate map of this place. It was huge.  
Suddenly, his cell phone vibrated in his pocket.  
He pulled it out and pressed it to his ear. "Hello?"  
"Canada, get back up here. Quick!" It was America.  
"W-what? Why?" He asked.  
"Switzerland sent Liechtenstein a text and she called me up here. He told her to tell everyone to get together, fast and alone. They got the information from the bank!" America explained.  
"Really? Okay, I'm on my way up, eh!" Canada ended the call, and stuffed his phone back in his pocket. He walked quickly, almost ran, back up to the hallway that was being used by the nations.  
"What's going on?" Kumijaro asked innocently.  
"Something good, I hope." Canada replied.

A few minutes later, all of the nations were in the common room, the door locked, windows closed, and curtains drawn. Liechtenstein put her phone down on the coffee table, then pressed a button to dial Switzerland's phone. She pressed another button to put it on speaker, and the countries waited for their four friends to pick up. When they did, Britain answered.

"Are you alone?"  
"Absolutely. What's up?" America replied eagerly.  
"We're on our way back to the Vatican now, but we figured we should tell you as soon as possible." France's voice came on.  
"What's going on?" Germany asked suspiciously.  
"We got the information from the bank. Hold on to your hats, chaps. You're going to be surprised." Britain said. "Alright, what is it?" Prussia pressed.

"Listen carefully." Britain began. "We asked the banker for financial history, and he said he wouldn't give it all to us. But he did help us out quite a bit."  
"How so?" Hungary asked.  
"He asked us exactly what we were looking for, and we said we were looking for suspicious financial activity or anything out of the ordinary."  
"What did he say?" Germany asked eagerly.  
"Honestly? Almost nothing."  
"What? How is that going to help us?" Turkey rolled his eyes.

"Calm down. What he did say was pretty interesting. Here, Switzerland, why don't you explain it. You're the financial expert here."  
"I'm driving!" Switzerland protested for a moment, but then sighed. "Alright listen up." He began. "You know how for each country, you have the government bank account and the personification's bank account?"  
"Yeah. There's one for the government bosses and one for us. Why?" America asked.

"Well, since there are two personifications for the country of Italy, you would think that there'd be three instead of two, right?"  
"…Let me guess. There isn't." Germany said.  
"Yup. I'll save you the trouble of guessing. Instead of three, there's actually, get this, FIVE."  
"Five? Why five, aru?" China asked.

"I'll tell you who each of them belong to." France's voice came back on. "The first is for the government, as usual. The second and third are for Romano and Italy, respectively." He said. "And the last two are again, for Romano and Italy."  
"Wait, what?" America tilted his head to the side. "What do you mean, again? Each personification is only supposed to have one bank account."  
"True, but here's where it gets weird." Britain replied. "The last two bank accounts aren't even fully protected by the government. They're kept classified and in the shadows. And it doesn't stop there. The names under both of these bank accounts? Feliciano and Lovino Vargas."  
"Their human names?" Spain looked baffled.  
"Yes. Here's Switzerland again. He has to explain this to you." A moment later, Switzerland spoke.

"Listen. Every time you make a purchase, deposit or withdraw from your personification bank account, a record is made of the transaction and kept on file. The records for the personification accounts belonging to Romano and Italy aren't really that out of the ordinary. A couple of cars here and there, travel expenses, regular stuff. Stuff that's probably on everyone else's accounts too. But it's the trouble with the other two accounts that bothers me."  
"How so?" Germany asked.  
"Firstly, I noticed that there's a lot of unknown withdrawals from the two personification accounts. It happens about once a year, and I was wondering where the money goes, until I realized that the answer was right in front of me. Every year, a bunch of money is taken out of the two bank accounts and deposited into the 'secret' bank accounts. The same month, roughly the same amount of money is taken out of those 'secret' bank accounts."

"So… Their using money from the personification bank account to buy things with the other accounts. That way, their purchases won't go on file, and it's kept hidden." Liechtenstein suddenly said.  
The nations stared at her.  
"I learn a lot about business from Big Brother." She shrugged with a smile.

"Wait. So you're saying that they use these other bank accounts to buy things in secret, because they know that the purchases from those two won't be tracked?" Belarus asked.  
"Exactly." Britain replied.  
"Well, how much money is taken from the personifications accounts?" Iceland asked.  
"Everyone take a seat. You're going to be surprised." Russia said cheerfully.  
"Just tell us how much!" Germany snapped, becoming impatient.  
"Every year, Romano and Italy take thirty million dollars from their personification accounts, and put it into their 'secret' accounts, evenly. Fifteen million in one, and the same in the other."

"Thirty MILLION?! Every year?!" Germany exclaimed, shocked. Even for a nation, that was a lot of money. "Where do they get that kind of money?"  
"The banker said that their Grandfather left them a fortune in his will, and so the money just doesn't stop coming." Britain replied. "And what's even crazier is that it's no surprise to the bank! Apparently the two of them own a lot of real estate, all over the country AND the world!"  
"Real Estate? Like, houses and stuff?" America asked.  
"Yup. The banker printed us off a list…"

The nations heard shuffling for a few moments, before France began talking.  
"Okay, let's see…They both own a lot of properties in the country…Italy has a villa in Milan, Romano has an apartment in Sicily…Italy has a house in Venice, they both have a bunch of places in Rome…"  
"Okay, what about the stuff in the rest of the world?" Iceland asked.  
France flipped a page and began reading. "There's a house in Jamaica, a condo in China, an apartment in New York City…Uh, another apartment in Northern Ireland, and the list goes on and on."

"What do they use them all for?" South Korea asked.  
"We don't know for sure, but the banker said that he thinks they just rent them out and use them for vacations when there aren't any tenants."  
"Wait, what about the thirty million?" Belgium asked suddenly. "What are they buying?"  
"We still don't know, but here's something else to blow your mind." Switzerland said.

"The banker said that he's been curious about it for a while, and he'd bet his entire life savings that it's not all spent directly on whatever they're buying. He said that he's sure that one brother actually buys whatever it is they're buying, and the other brother uses the money to keep things quiet and to keep it anonymous."  
"That's crazy!" Prussia exclaimed.  
"And what's crazier, is that on top of all this, there's no record of the purchase anywhere. It's like it never even happened."

Suddenly, Greece yawned and shook his head. "I don't think that's right." He said sleepily.  
"What do you mean, Greece-san?" Japan asked his friend.  
The nation rubbed his eyes and blinked.  
"Italy's message. It said 'Destroy all of my documents' or something like that. And it was in Latin. I don't know about you, but I think he was trying to send the message directly to Romano, to tell him to destroy all of the records of the purchase."

There was silence in the room as the nations put the missing pieces of the puzzle together.  
"…Romano had the documents, and the brain-washed Italy wanted them…." Spain's voice trailed off.  
"…Italy knew that he'd be forced to go after them when he was brain-washed, so he tried to get Romano to destroy them before he got there." America added.  
"That's why Romano-san didn't want anyone to know what was on the document when he got it back." Japan murmured.  
There was a long silence in the room as everyone processed this new information.  
"Comrades? Don't you want to know when they make this purchase?" Russia's voice broke the silence, as the rest of the nations tried to snap back to reality.  
"Let me guess." Germany said suddenly. "The fifteenth, right?"  
"Yup!"  
"How many days until the fifteenth?"

"…It's tomorrow!"

* * *

"I like it here!" North Pole said happily.  
"Don't get too comfortable. We still have a lot of work to be done." Trident responded.  
"He's right. We should start now. South, bring the figures in." Atlantis said firmly.  
South Pole hesitated then agreed.  
A few minutes later, the figures came marching in, one by one.  
"Veneziano, this is where you come in." Atlantis said, turning to the Italian.  
"How so?"  
"You and South are going to work together to train these figures."  
"Yes, Atlantis."

* * *

"We can't." Spain said for the umpteenth time.  
"What do you mean we can't? We have to! This…This is…" Germany's voice trailed off as he paced back and forth. "Calm down, West. Spain's right. We can't right now." Prussia said, actually being serious for once.  
"Why not?! Give me one good reason why we can't go and confront Romano about this whole thing right now?!"

The four nations who had collected the information at the bank had finally returned, and now the nations were having some sort of a World Meeting.  
"Well for one, we don't even know where he is right now." Britain said.  
"I hate to admit it, but _Angleterre_ is right." France sighed. "Besides, we have the opportunity to potentially collect more information tonight, if we continue with our plan of, uh, sneaking around."

"…I can't…I can't believe it…" Germany finally sat down, defeated.  
He had been right. Italy and Romano were up to something. Never before had it felt so horrible to be right. For once, Germany wished he was wrong.

"It's a shock to all of us." Hungary said softly placing a hand on his shoulder. "But France is right. We need to stick to our plan for now. If anything, we can talk to Romano about it in the morning."  
"Maybe we'll catch him in the act." Norway said sarcastically, but there was a lot of truth hanging on to that one sentence.  
"Here's another question, not that we don't have a shortage of them…Why did Atlantis want the document anyway?" Prussia asked nobody in particular.  
"I don't know, but I wish we had gotten a glimpse of it." Austria murmured.

"Guys, look. I think we should worry about the fight on the twenty-first." America said suddenly.  
"Are you saying that you think we should just let this go?" Britain demanded, scowling.  
America rolled his eyes. "No, I'm saying we should focus more on the fact that Atlantis is going to attack, and we should probably start getting ready. We made calls, but we should double-check everything and everyone." He said.

Britain couldn't find the words to respond to that. It sounded so…responsible. That wasn't an adjective used to describe America often.

"I agree. We should prepare more then we already have. Think of how many nations are surrounded by water." France said, giving Cuba a pointed look.  
"Yeah, it kinda sucks. But I called all of the other island nations in the Caribbean, and they're as ready as they can be right now. Egypt and I also spread word to the African nations. They'll be okay too." Cuba nodded.

"France, did you get a hold of Seychelles?" Canada asked worriedly. France nodded.  
"I called a bunch of the others too." He said.

"I left a message for North Korea, aru." China said suddenly.

The nations all turned to stare at him incredulously.  
"Y-you did?" Japan asked softly.  
China wasn't meeting any of there eyes. He was toying with his small stuffed panda, his hair hanging in his face. He nodded.  
"He...He likes swimming so…I figured…" His voice trailed off.  
Taiwan realized that she was biting her lip. Japan took a silent, shaky breath.

There was a sudden knock at the door, and Netherlands got up to answer it.  
Estonia quickly pressed a button on the keyboard and all of the computer screens around the room went dark. When the door was opened, the nations were surprised to see Nico, standing there.  
He was wearing a blue dress shirt and black dress pants, probably a school uniform.

"Hi! I came to tell you all it's time for dinner." He said with a smile.  
Now that they were close enough to see him in person, they realized that he really was just a regular kid.  
He was a little bit shorter then Romano, but had enough height to be taller then Italy. He had his hands shyly in his pockets, but he was smiling all the same.

A few moments later, the nations and Nico were walking down a hallway, on their way to a different dining room then normal.  
"I heard you're staying here for a while…?" America asked Nico as they walked side by side.  
"Yeah, Romano's all paranoid now. It's not that big of a deal though. School's going to end for Christmas break soon anyway." He smiled.  
"Cool. So was Romano pissed at you for ditching school this morning?"  
Nico laughed. "Definitely." His smile turned into a frown and a sigh. "I can't blame him though. I don't usually skip school like that."  
America pursed his lips together and looked at him. "If you don't mind my asking, why'd you ditch class anyway?" Nico smiled softly. "I was going for a job interview."  
"A job interview?"  
"Yeah. I've been doing odd jobs here and there lately and I wanted to get an actual part-time job downtown." "How come?"  
"Well…See, Romano and Veneziano have done a lot for me, and I want to make them proud, so I've been saving up for college for a while now."  
America smiled and pat him on the shoulder. "Good for you, kid. You're doing the right thing." He frowned. "But won't Romano and Italy pay for it for you?"  
"Yeah, they would…" Nico seemed almost embarrassed by it. "They'd do it in a heartbeat. But I don't want them to. I want to do it myself." He smiled again, and America smiled back.

"Awesome. I wish I got to go to college. You can't when your busy running a country." He laughed.  
Nico tilted his head at this. "Really? Romano and Veneziano did it no problem." He said.  
America paused and stared at him.  
"Romano and Italy went to college?" He turned to Germany who was a few steps behind them. "Did you know this?"  
Germany looked as confused as America did. "N-no. I had no idea. Italy went to college? Really?" He asked incredulously.

"Well, not really. Veneziano was in University for a while, majoring in art, but he dropped out because there was a problem."  
"What problem?"  
"World War Two."  
"Ah."

"What about Romano?" America asked.  
"Oh, Romano went to Medical School." He said casually.  
Germany and America gaped at him.

"R-Romano? Went to Med School? Seriously?" Germany exclaimed.  
"Yup. Graduated with honors."  
There was silence as Germany and America processed this.  
"S-Spain? Did you know that Romano went to Medical School?" America called back to the Spanish nation.  
"Si, _amigo_. He graduated with honors."  
"Well. That's slightly…surprising." America murmured.

"Actually, he wanted to go back to university and get a PhD in Psychology, but there was another problem." Nico added.  
"What was the other problem?"  
"World War One."  
"Ah."

Germany could only stare in shock as he tried to process this.  
"Romano…?"  
The more he thought about it, the crazier it seemed. Romano was….well, Romano. There's no way he could possibly be interested in medicine…or school…or even learning for that matter. But he could tell Nico wasn't lying. It was true.  
And what about Italy? He had learned his artist skills a long time ago, back when the Roman Empire was still alive. So why did he want to go to art school? It seemed so unreal.

By the time they got to the dinning room, Germany had recovered from the initial shock, although he still felt confused about the entire thing.  
As the group walked in, Germany stared daggers at Romano, who was sitting at the table, sipping a drink.

"You! You're…You're…" He couldn't even form words as he pointed at Romano , who raised an eyebrow and scowled. "You're…You're _smart_!" The German was at a loss for words, unable to voice his thoughts. He still couldn't believe it.  
Romano gave him a what-the-hell-is-wrong-with-you look as he spoke. "What do you mean by that? Are you saying that because I'm Italian I can't be smart?" He demanded, still not quite sure what the potato-bastard was talking about.  
"You…You went to medical school!" Germany felt idiotic as he said this, but he couldn't help it.  
Romano laughed. "Let me guess. This one has been telling you everything." He punched Nico in the arm playfully as he sat down.  
"Is it true?" Belgium asked.  
Romano nodded. "Yup. Graduated with honors and everything."  
"Wow." Germany exclaimed.  
Romano turned to him and smirked evilly. "What? Does it bother you that I'm proven to be smarter then you?" He taunted, causing an argument between the two countries.

* * *

When dinner was finished, the countries headed straight back up to their accommodations, and had another meeting.  
This time, they were ready to get down to work.

"Everyone have their cell phones?" Estonia asked the group.  
They all responded with a yes.  
"Why do you need your cell phones?" Sealand, who was staying behind, asked Britain.  
"America, Japan and Estonia are going to track us with our cellphones." He explained. "That way, they can see the floor plans and us at the same time. Also, the earpieces we're going to use connect wirelessly to our cellphones, which connect to them."  
"Wow! It's like a spy movie!" Sealand exclaimed.  
"Except if we get caught…" Prussia murmured.

A few moments later, everyone was ready. "Alright guys. You know what to do. Good luck!" America beamed, excitement pouring through them as the nations nodded and left the room.  
Most of them went to their own rooms for a while, knowing that if they all left at the same time, it'd look suspicious.  
Slowly, each nation lingered in their rooms or in the hallway, until almost everyone was walking around, separated from each other.

"_Everyone, please be mindful of the other residents of the Vatican." _Japan reminded them all. "_…and good luck."_

* * *

While most of the nations were simply walking, a select few were moving in a much more elaborate way.  
China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan had one goal; not to be spotted. They had all dressed in dark clothing, except China who had no desire to change out of his usual outfit.  
As they crept along the hallways, they moved silently and swiftly. At each stair case they found, Hong Kong would run along the railing instead of the stairs, while the others would either jump up to the next landing, or run quickly up the side.  
The entire group of nations knew where to go, and so the group of Asian countries hurried up to their intended destination without any hesitation.  
"We can't find anymore staircases." South Korea said quietly into his earpiece. "This must be the top floor."  
"_Cool! How many floors are there?_" America asked.  
"We counted five."  
"_Be careful. We don't know who might be up there." _Estonia said.  
South Korea was about to respond, when China shushed him, demanding him to be silent.

Silence was the key to being a ninja, apparently.

* * *

Austria tugged on the large handle carefully. The right door of the set of double doors opened swiftly, and he poked his head in, checking to make sure it was empty.  
There was nobody in it. He slipped inside silently, and shut the door as quietly as he could. Austria looked around at the room in front of him.  
It was…a concert hall?  
His eyes widened at the sight of the elaborate design of the room. Yes, it was definitely some sort of concert hall. As he wandered to the front of the room, he spoke into his earpiece.  
_"_I've found a…concert hall of some sort." He said as he continued looking around.  
"_Concert hall?_ _What's in it?" _Finland, who had also stayed behind, spoke.  
Austria looked around. "Well, uh…Everything. It's a large stage too. And a very nice piano." He commented.

He stared at the large instrument that he was so familiar with for a few moments, then walked towards it. On a hunch, he picked up a page of sheet music from the rather large amount left on the piano. He scanned it, noting the scrawled handwriting, and the name on top.  
"Hm. It appears he's been writing music again." He murmured.  
"_What?_" America asked.  
"Italy. He used to write music when he lived with me as a child, but it appears he still does it as a hobby." He said and placed the sheet music back on the stand.  
Looking around, he sat down at the piano, and did his best to sight read the music in front of him. A swift melody of notes came from the piano as Austria played, following the musical notes with ease. He was enjoying the sound of it. It was different from what he usually played, but he still liked the way it sounded with the right dynamics and accents.  
It was lovely.  
"_Wow! That sounds amazing!" _Finland exclaimed as he listened to the piano sounds.  
"Thank you. But it's not mine. Italy has always been very talented." Austria replied as he kept playing, smiling to himself slightly.

* * *

Britain did his best to look casual and in control as he walked down the hallway on the third floor. It was something he had had time to practice in Scotland Yard. The key was to look like you knew where you were going, and had a reason to go there. People wouldn't ask questions if you succeeded.  
He caught sight of France doing the same, further down the hall. He was easy to spot, as his blonde hair and usual clothing stood out against the monochrome and rather neutral looks of the other residents, workers and priests in the Vatican.  
Spain was a few feet behind him, his dark hair blending in a bit more.

As he approached his destination, Britain took a deep breath and exhaled, preparing himself mentally. Finally, the three of them were together now, and they were all ready. Without any conversation, Britain grasped the handle of one of the doors, and pulled it open.

The three nations slipped inside the office.

It was empty, and they all sighed as the door closed shut behind them.  
"I'm glad Romano's not here. It'd be hard to explain what we were doing." Spain murmured as the three of them got down to work.  
"_Are you guys in his office?" _ America asked.  
"Yes, and we're at his computer now." France replied as Britain sat down at the desk.  
"Alright…Let's see what we can find." He muttered to himself as he turned on the computer and moved the mouse to turn on the monitor.  
"Any ideas for the password, lads?" He asked nobody in particular as he stared at the screen.  
Just a short while ago, they had watched Italy being tortured on this screen. It gave France chills to think about it.

"_We're trying to hack into it, but it's pretty secure. Actually, it's VERY secure…"_ Estonia replied, giving no help.  
"So what now? Do we guess?" Spain asked.  
"Looks like it." Britain replied as he started typing.  
"Let's try…_Italia._" He typed it in, but frowned when the password box blinked red and the words _Incorrect Password _appeared.  
"Look!" France said, pointing to something on the screen. "_One, out of ten." _He read. "We have ten tries, and you just used one." He frowned.  
"Ten tries? We better keep thinking then." Spain said, still feeling uncomfortable knowing that he was betraying Romano in a sense.

"Try _Lovino_." France suggested.  
Britain typed it in, but to no avail.  
"_Tomato?_" Spain volunteered, but the computer stayed locked.  
"We've already used three! Can't you lads hack into it from where you all are?" Britain asked.  
He heard tapping sounds, and Estonia sighed. "_Not at all. We'll keep trying though_."

As they spoke, France turned around and studied the bookshelves. He could only pick out a few basic Italian words here and there on the titles of the books, but they all looked like heavy reads and non-fiction.  
"_Rome_?" Spain suggested.  
Britain shook his head.  
"How about _Veneziano?_" Estonia offered.  
"Nope."  
"_Vargas?_" America volunteered.  
"Try again."

France trailed his finger across the spines of the books, curious as to what was in them, but frustrated that his Italian was too basic to read them. Nevertheless, he picked up one of the books and studied the pages inside. This one definitely didn't seem like an easy read. In fact…  
"Spain? What year did Romano graduate medical school?" France asked suddenly. Spain blinked, surprised at the seemingly random question.  
"Uh, 1910 I believe." Spain replied, confused.

"Try _1910_, _Angleterre._" France suggested.  
Britain held his breath as he typed it in, and gasped when the box blinked green and the screen changed to Romano's desktop.  
"You did it, France!" Britain exclaimed, more surprised then grateful. "How'd you know what the password was?" France smiled as waved the book he was holding. "Most of these are medical journals." He explained.  
Spain laughed and patted France on the back.

"Now let's see…" Britain murmured as he clicked on the computer icon and went straight to Romano's files. He frowned at the massive amount, and the unfamiliar Italian words.  
"Here. Do this." France said and he took the mouse from Britain. A few clicks later, everything had been translated almost perfectly to English.  
"There's a lot of them…" He said.  
"Well, it's a good thing there's three of us." Spain said as they all leaned in and got to work, going through the files.

Most of them weren't unexpected. Government documents, imports and exports, that sort of thing. After half an hour, the trio was ready to call it quits.  
"There's nothing of any use here." France complained.  
Had they really gone through all of that work for nothing?  
"Let's not give up yet." Spain encouraged. "Remember the whole deal with the bank and the thirty million dollars?" "What about it?" Britain asked.  
"Let's search for anything relating to that. Maybe we can find out what he's buying?" He felt horrible for suggesting an idea like that, but he wasn't in any position to argue.  
"Good idea, Spain. Let's try…" Britain's voice trailed off as he typed in the word _payments_.  
Several documents appeared in the search result, but nothing out of the ordinary.

"Well this was a waste of time." Britain muttered in frustration. "I hope the others have better luck than us." He clicked the 'back' button, and the screen went back to the desktop.  
"_Check his recycle bin._" America suggested suddenly.  
"Okay…?" Britain clicked on the recycle bin, which was empty.  
"He probably emptied it awhile ago." France said.  
"Wait! Look!" Spain exclaimed, pointing to something on the screen.  
The countries stared at it.  
"_Last emptied…"_ Britain read, and raised an eyebrow when he saw the date. "He emptied it the day that Italy, er, the brain-washed Italy, showed up. And look at the time." He pointed to the time record beside it. "…Remember when he walked out of the library when we were having a meeting after that whole car chase incident? I think he came here and deleted something." Britain summarized.

"_Destroy all of my documents._" France recalled quietly. "...How much do you want to bet that he deleted the file that held the document that Italy wanted?"

* * *

Netherlands was about to reach for the door handle, when Ukraine stopped him.  
"There's no point in trying to unlock it. It looks like it's sealed shut." She said, tilting his head curiously at the massive double doors, that were carved with ancient (and very holy-looking) engravings, and had a huge (old-looking and complicated) chain and padlock on the handles.  
"Wonder what's in there." Egypt murmured, stepping back to look at the entire door.

"I bet it's a mass room." Someone suddenly said.  
The nations jumped, but relaxed when they realized it was only Greece. He was walking sleepily towards them with a cat on his shoulder.  
"A mass room?" Netherlands repeated.  
"Yes. I think it's a mass room." Greece said.  
"Why do you think that?" Ukraine asked.  
"It kinda looks like it. I can tell." Greece explained. "We've all been in the East Mass Room, I've seen the North Mass Room, the South Mass Room, and the West Mass Room." He said as he counted them off with his fingers. "Therefore," He looked back up at the massive entrance. "…This must be the Main Mass Room." He finished.  
"Wow. You'd make a good detective." Ukraine smiled, but frowned as she turned back to the doors.

"I wonder why it's sealed off…?" She murmured to herself.

* * *

Germany sighed quietly to himself.  
He was frustrated.  
Frustrated by the fact that he really didn't have much of an idea as to where he was going.  
Frustrated that he still hadn't found anything useful.  
Frustrated by the fact that Romano (and probably Italy) was hiding something that obviously held great importance.

"Something wrong?" Russia asked the German quietly.  
"_Nein_. It's nothing." He replied.  
"Maybe we'll find something of interest." Lithuania said with a smile. "This place is huge, after all. There's bound to be something hidden in these walls."

Germany frowned deeper as Lithuania said this. Of course there was bound to be something hidden in the walls of the Vatican. He already knew what they were; secrets. The place was probably full of secrets, which bothered the German even more.  
_What could Romano be hiding?_ He thought to himself.  
They poked around several rooms for a while, coming up empty.  
The fourth floor seemed to be nothing special.

"Hey. Look." Belarus suddenly pointed ahead.

There was a door up ahead, but what made it stand out from the rest of the doors they had seen was the fact that is was the only door at the end of a very long, empty hallway, and the fact that it had chains and a padlock on it.

"What do you think is in there?" Russia asked.  
"I don't know. But let's go find out." Germany said, striding a head, finally glad to see something potentially worthwhile.  
The others followed, and soon they were watching as Belarus attempted to pick the lock with a sharp nail file that she (for some reason) had in her pocket.  
"If you can't get it, that's okay." Lithuania smiled softly. "We could always-" He was cut off by the sound of the lock clicking and the padlock falling to the ground.  
"There. That was easy." Belarus said as she pulled the chains off the door.  
She moved aside to let Germany grab the handle. _Whoever sealed this room had a purpose to do so. _Germany thought. _Who knows what we'll find in here._ He took a deep breath.  
_What could be in here?  
_He was about to pull the handle and open the door to reveal what was inside, when he heard China speak loud and clear over the ear piece.

"Everyone, I believe we have found Romano's room, aru."


End file.
